Fidel receives
president of Mali
BY ELSON CONCEPCION
AND ARNALDO MUSA—Granma daily staff writers—
PRESIDENT Fidel Castro received President Amadou
Toumani Touré of the Republic of Mali, currently on
an official visit to the country, on Tuesday
afternoon in the Palace of the Revolution.
The
two leaders, accompanied by their respective
delegations, reviewed bilateral cooperation and
international issues.
The links between Cuba and the African nation,
initiated with the establishing of diplomatic
relations in December 1960, were strengthened by the
signing of the first joint communiqué during a visit
to that nation by Comandante Ernesto Che
Guevara in 1964.
Outstanding within the cooperation process
initiated in 1966 is the presence in Mali of a
significant contingent of Cuban health professionals
and technicians who, in addition to attending to the
sick, have contributed to the training of qualified
personnel in this sector.
TRIBUTE TO INTERNATIONAL COMBATANTS
The Malian president visited the Pantheon where
the remains of internationalist combatants who fell
in Africa are laid to rest.
At the end of his tour, the president of Mali
wrote in the Visitors Book: "With conviction I bow
to and salute the memory of the internationalist
heroes fallen in the defense of the homeland,
freedom and for the liberation of the African
continent from colonialism and apartheid."
