CUBA, December 5, 2009.- Salvadoran Vice President Salvador Sanchez Ceren visited the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine, where he was received by Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer, member of the Politburo of the Cuban Communist Party. Sanchez Ceren, who is also El Salvador’s Education Minister, thanked Balaguer for the presence of 17 Cuban doctors in his country, “who, apart from seeing the victims of Hurricane Ida, educate the people in terms of prevention and control of epidemics.” In statements to national press upon his arrival to the education center, the Salvadoran high-ranking official ratified his country’s position with regard to the coup in Honduras, saying he “hopes the international community doesn’t support these illegal elections and that democracy is restored to that fraternal nation.” Vice President Sanchez also said that his visit to Cuba is aimed at exploring new areas of bilateral cooperation, and that the government of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) gives priority to social programs, among them the reconstruction of the country, the struggle against poverty, and food security. In June, and with the presence of Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, diplomatic ties between his country and Cuba were officially re-established, since the government of that Central American nation suspended diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and had limited economic and commercial ties with the island ever since. For the first time this year, the Republic of El Salvador voted in favor of the Cuban resolution against the US blockade, which completed the unanimous support of the Latin American and Caribbean region to the Cuban project. (Cubaminrex-RHC) |