Cuban delegation of Paralympic athletes visit important sites in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 10 (ACN) Members of the Cuban delegation to the 2024 Paralympic Games visited today the Center for Genetic Engineering and Industrial Biotechnology (CIGB by its Spanish acronym), after their official welcome at the Coliseum of the Ciudad Deprtiva, in Havana.

On behalf of all Cubans, directors and workers of the prestigious scientific institution honored the athletes for their performances in the Olympic Games, where they won six gold medals, three silver and one bronze, for a total of 10 awards, a result that placed the island in 24th place in the medal standings.

Marta Ayala Avila, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and general director of the CIGB, told those present that the entity was founded in 1986 in Havana by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and is a distinctive Cuban biotechnology company.

The center researches, develops, produces and markets novel biotechnological applications and preventive, therapeutic and diagnostic biopharmaceutical products for the biomedical, agricultural and industrial sectors, for a single health, she said.

Ayala Avila highlighted important achievements such as the Abdala vaccine against Covid-19, Heberprot P, delivered by infiltration to combat diabetic ulcers, HeberFeron, designed to prevent mutilations in areas damaged by skin cancer, and the anti-inflammatory Nasalferon and Jusvinza for rheumatoid arthritis, applied as an emergency in intensive care patients during the coronavirus pandemic.

On behalf of the Paralympic delegation, star sprinter Omara Durand said that they arrived in the homeland satisfied with the results achieved in Paris 2024, the pride of all for making the people happy and the eternal gratitude to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution for making inclusive, humanistic and value-based sports a reality.

She thanked the Cuban scientists for their recognition, who not only praise the medals but also the dignity, dedication and will to win, as the greatest triumphs.