CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Commemorative Coin Granted to Fidel and Raúl.

By Octavio Borges
CUBA, January 29th, 2011.- The commemorative coin for the 15th anniversary of the foundation of Havana’s Jose Marti Memorial was granted on Thursday to Revolution leader Fidel Castro and President Raúl Castro.

During the ceremony to mark the date, held at this institution, the coin was also conferred to Gerardo Hernández, René González, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and Ramón Labañino, the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unfairly incarcerated in the United States, the ACN news agency reported.

Armando Hart, director of the National Martí.Program, and Pedro Pablo Rodríguez, a researcher with the Center for Martí. Studies, were also worthy of the commemorative coin.

Haydée Díaz, director of the Memorial, received the Ana Betancourt Order, while its workers were given a certificate of acknowledgement given by the Cuban Communist Party and the Council of State.

The National Assembly of the People’s Power, the National Marti Program and the Center for Marti Studies were among the institutions deserving the coin.

Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón highlighted that today Martí is more necessary for his people than ever before, which require of his patriotism, his unlimited and absolute devotion to the cause of his homeland, his anti-imperialism, his comprehensive humanism, and his relentless struggle to achieve all the justice.

He added that the world needs him to save the life seriously threatened by the greed, selfishness and vulgar materialism of a system whose perversity the Apostle had the ability to discover and denounce when its first signs were barely becoming apparent.

Alarcón underlined that, during its 15 years of existence, over one million Cubans and foreigners have visited the Memorial, where countless art exhibitions, scientific meetings, concerts, and contests in which thousands of children and youngsters participated, have taken place.

Díaz referred to the satisfaction with the work done and the intention to perfect it, and promised, on behalf of the Memorial’s workers, to maintain Martí’s legacy alive.

The meeting concluded with a concert by pianist Frank Fernández, who interpreted some of his compositions and classic pieces from Cuban traditional music. (Cubaminex-Granma)