Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, to pay an official state visit to SVG
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel will pay an official state visit to St. Vincent and the Grenadines from December 3 to December 5. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves announced the president’s visit during a session of the islands’ parliament on Monday, November 21.
On Monday, December 5 at 10 a.m., the St. Vincent parliament will host the head of state for a formal sitting, during which he will address members of the legislature.
“This is the first time since the Cuban Revolution in 1959 that the Cuban president has visited St. Vincent and the Grenadines before him the vice president did,” Gonsalves said Monday evening.
Gonsalves stated that he is confident that the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines will receive His Excellency President Miguel Diaz-Canel with great warmth and that Diaz-Canel’s visit will strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two nations.
Later on Monday, December 5, the President will depart for Barbados, where he will attend the Cuba CARICOM Summit.
Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel y Bermúdez is a Cuban politician and engineer who has served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2021 as well as the president of Cuba since 2019.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines established diplomatic relations with Cuba in May 1992 when the Honourable James Mitchell was the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Kingsley Layne became the first non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba. In 2004, H. E. Ellsworth I. A. John replaced H.E. Kingsley Layne as non-resident Ambassador.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has been a long advocate for the removal of the blockage placed on the Republic of Cuba and the solidarity and camaraderie which exist both at the highest political and people-to-people levels have brought mutual benefits to both countries.
