The honors to the Father of the Homeland were presided over by the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yván Gil, the head of the Department of International Relations of the Communist Party of the island, Emilio Lozada; the vice-president of the National Assembly, Ana María Mari Machado, and the ambassador of Havana, Dagoberto Rodríguez.

The ceremony held at the National Pantheon to the Heroes was also attended by plenipotentiaries accredited here from friendly countries and representatives of the Cuban Mission in the Bolivarian Republic.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister told the press that the Cuban Revolution throughout all these decades stood firm and taught the world what solidarity, internationalism and being on the side of the Latin American peoples in all circumstances are.

Gil pointed out that January 1st is not only a date of celebration for Cubans, but ‘for all Latin Americans and peoples of the world who believe in liberation and solidarity’.

The senior diplomat recalled Cuba’s historic leader, Fidel Castro, Army General Raúl Castro, and all those who accompanied ‘that libertarian deed’, which thanks to it ‘we can say that the Bolivarian Revolution exists today’.

It was thanks to the Cuban Revolution, that lighthouse, which illuminated the path we follow today in a world full of complexities’, he stressed, and assured that despite the difficulties Cuba will continue to be ‘that sovereign and spiritual political guide that will point the way to all peoples seeking liberation’.

Rodriguez, for his part, affirmed that despite the criminal blockade policy of U.S. imperialism against Cuba, the ‘Cuban Revolution is more alive than ever and we are 66 years old’.

He said that this event expresses ‘the close and perfect brotherhood between Cubans and Venezuelans’.

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