CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Raul Castro Officially Welcomes Paraguay´s Fernando Lugo

CUBA, June 4, 2009. Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz presided over the official welcoming ceremony for visiting Paraguayan head of state Fernando Lugo at the Havana-based Revolution Palace. The two presidents greeted the Cuban and Paraguayan delegations. The visiting officials are Foreign Minister Hector Lacognata and Health and Social Wellbeing Minister Esperanza Martinez, among other officials.

The Cuban delegation was made up of First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer and Culture Minister Abel Prieto, all of them are members of the Political Bureau of Cuba´s Communist Party.

Presidents Fernando Lugo and Raul Castro held official talks at the Revolution Palace with the attendance of First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura.

During his first day in Cuba, the Paraguayan President laid a wreath at the monument of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti; he also visited the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine. Lugo´s official visit will run until next Friday.

Cuba and Paraguay established consular relations in August 1996, and diplomatic relations on November 9, 1999. (Cubaminrex- ACN)