“Your example has special significance, as the response of Cuban workers, laborers and professionals, fighting, thinking and working as a country, contributing decisively to the continuity of this beautiful revolutionary work,” stated José Antonio Pérez Pérez, member of the CTC (Federation of Cuban Workers) national secretariat.

At the proposal of the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and CTC Secretary General, the President issued Decree no.237 granting the title of Hero of Labor of the Republic of Cuba to 13 compañeros, including a posthumous award to Vice Admiral Julio César Gandarilla, former Minister of the Interior. His widow Minerva Sarmiento accepted the title from Diaz-Canel.
Photo: Estudios Revolución

Twelve workers were awarded the First Degree Lazaro Peña Order, from different unions and territories; while four former union leaders were granted the Third Degree Lazaro Peña Order and six health and science workers, members of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Situations of Disasters and Serious Epidemics, were honored with the Labor Achievement Medal.

The honorees were accompanied by members of the Party Political Bureau Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister; Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Party Organization and Cadre Policy; and the Ministers of the FAR and Interior, Army Corps General Alvaro Lopez Miera, and Brigadier General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez, as well as CTC Secretary General Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, among others.

Heroes & Heroines of Labor:

• Army Corps General Ramón Espinosa Martín

• Brigadier General (R) Marcelo Verdecia Perdomo

• Coronel Nicolás Ponzoa Reyes

• Coronel (R) Eladio Julián Fernández

• Nilia Victoria Escobar Yéndez

• Ramón Conrado López

• Orestes Benítez Fernández

• Héctor Rodríguez Silva

• Alberto Lescay Merencio

• Hilda Reyes López

• Crescencio Ferro Ordaz

• Odel Peña Vázquez

• Vice Admiral Julio César Gandarilla Bermejo (posthumous)

On behalf of the Presidium of the PCFR Central Committee, the first vice-president of the political organization, Ivan Melnikov, presented the distinctions to Cuban ambassador Gerardo Peñalver Portal, recognizing the contributions of the aforementioned individuals to the historic relations of friendship shared by the two peoples and parties.

The Cubaminrex website reported that the Cuban diplomat thanked the PCFR for the awards granted our main leaders and emphasized the enduring bonds shared, evident in ongoing mutual support, and in the Russian party’s unwavering opposition to the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

Melnikov, also first vice-president of the Russian Federation’s State Duma, was accompanied at the ceremony by the Party’s vice-president, Dimitri Novikov, and the head of its international relations department, Mars Zabirov.

In a joint article published in this newspaper, the foreign ministers of Russia and Cuba, Serguey Lavrov and Bruno Rodríguez, respectively, stated that both nations “look optimistically to the future of bilateral relations and continue working to fully defend sovereignty and independence, as well as the right to guarantee security and construct our own destinies.”

(Source: Granma)

The ceremony, held over the weekend in Havana’s Capitol building, home of the National Assembly, commemorated the 123rd anniversary of the beginning of what National Hero José Martí called Cuba’s ‘Necessary War.’

On February 24, 1895, Marti relaunched the country’s independence struggle, which eventually freed Cuba from Spanish colonial rule.

At the ceremony, the Cuban president honored three revolutionary veterans who fought alongside Fidel Castro and himself to overthrow U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista: Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, current second secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, and Commanders of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés and Guillermo Garcia.

Raúl said: “As a common characteristic of these three liberators of our time, I can cite their loyalty to the Revolution and Fidel, their dedication to work, modesty and humility, which have made them worthy of the recognition and the respect of Cubans.”

All three revolutionary leaders were previously honored with “Hero of the Republic” — Cuba’s highest distinction.

(Radio Habana Cuba)