South African Ambassador visits historic sites in Eastern Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 22 (acn) South Africa's ambassador to Cuba, Naphtal Manana visited on Tuesday the eastern city of Bayamo to learn about Cuba's historic events of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The South African diplomat told the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party in Bayamo Federico Hernandez that he was interested in learning how and when the Cuban Revolution was initiated.

Hernandez explained that Bayamo was the area where the Patriot sentiments of the Cuban people began while the first independence war initiated as well as the fight against slavery.
He added that Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, leader of that first war and known as the Father of the Homeland was born.
The National Anthem was created and sung in Bayamo which was the first city liberated by Cuba's forefathers and burned when it was impossible to liberate the city, said the Cuban official.
Hernandez added that the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes military garrison was simultaneously attacked along with the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba on July 26th 1953 and the landing of the Granma Yacht was held on December 2nd 1956 in Las Coloradas located in Granma province.
He recalled that the province was sight of a number of events in the national liberation war between 1956 and 1958 led by the historic leader of the Revolution Fidel Castro.
After reiterating South Africa's opposition to the US economic blockade against the Cuban people, the diplomat affirmed that the representatives of his country are learning about the history of the Caribbean island above all the preservation of its culture.
Hernandez and Manana exchanged presents and the African official was invited to tour the province of Granma.
In addition to touring the city on a traditional horse carriage the South African ambassador visited the birthplace of Carlos Manuel de Cespedes and the plaza which the independence hero called De La Revolution.
He also toured the Wax Museum and one of the main streets called General Calixto Garcia.
In the municipality of Guisa, the African diplomat visited the Cupainicu provincial botanic gardens, which is a true natural paradise close to the Sierra Maestra Mountains and some historic areas of the last stage of the independence war.