Cuban Friendship Institute issues commemorative award to Russian solidarity organization

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 21 (ACN) The 60th anniversary commemorative seal of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP by its Spanish acronym) was given today in Havana to the Russian Society of Friendship with Cuba (SRAC) in the person of its president, Aleksey Mikhailovich Lavrov.

Fernando Gonzalez Llort, president of ICAP, in presenting Lavrov with the award, highlighted the historical relations between the two organizations, which date back to the Soviet-Cuban Friendship Society, founded in 1964 by Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

Noemi Rabaza Fernandez, ICAP's first vice president, and Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, president of the Cuba-Russia Friendship Association, also participated in the ceremony.

The organization of the 19th European Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, scheduled to be held in Moscow in June this year, was at the focus of the talks with who is also Russia's deputy finance minister.

With 45 branches in almost all the regions of the country, the SRAC carries out activities in defense of the Cuban people, particularly against the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States, and for the spreading of the truth about Cuba.