Cuba saluted Day of Love and Friendship

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 14 (ACN) “Because the Revolution is our greatest work of love, and because love is the engine that drives revolutionaries, let us celebrate today the Day of Love and Friendship,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote in a message on X in which he reasserted Cuba’s solidarity with the Palestinian cause and his affection for that nation victim of genocide by Israel.

On their end, both Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz congratulated the Cuban people and recalled National Hero José Martí’s words when he said, “Love is the sole strength and the sole truth there is in this life. Patriotism is nothing but love; friendship is nothing but love”, and “Sane love is not love”.

The celebration of the Day of Love and Friendship, also known as Valentine's Day or St. Valentine's Day, to the 3rd century AD, when the priest St. Valentine defied Emperor Claudius II’s ban on weddings of young people and, as a result, was imprisoned and subsequently executed on February 14, around 269 AD.

Since then the figure of St. Valentine has been associated with love and friendship and the day became a moment to express affection and appreciation for others and an opportunity to show our love to partners, friends and family.