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Cuban President Pays Homage to Jose Marti in Ecuador

CUBA, August 11, 2009. President Raul Castro and his accompanying delegation paid homage to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti on Monday during a short visit to the so-called ‘Mitad del Mundo’ city (Middle of the World).

‘Mitad del Mundo’ is a tract of land owned by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha and it is located in the San Antonio parish of the canton of Quito, north of the center of Quito. The grounds contain the ‘Museo Etnográfico Mitad del Mundo’, a museum about the indigenous ethnography of Ecuador. The 30-meter-tall tower-monument, built between 1979 and 1982, was constructed to mark the point where the equator was thought to pass through the country at the time.

The ‘Jose Marti’ square, where the Caribbean delegation paid homage to the Cuban National Hero, is only a few meters away from the tower. Also present were workers of the Cuban embassy in Quito, relatives and Cuban collaborators making their contribution there in sectors such as public health and sports.

The Cuban delegation, which also includes Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla and Havana Historian Eusebio Leal, participated on Monday in the swearing-in ceremony of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who was re-elected last April for a second term in office until 2013. (Cubaminrex- ACN)