Nicosia, Cyprus, August 12, 2026. - This Tuesday, August 11, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) presented the Friendship Medal to Vera Policarpou, Head of International Relations and European Affairs of the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL) and secretary of the Cyprus-Cuba Friendship Association, for her unwavering commitment and solidarity with Cuba and its people. The award was presented by Emilio Lozada García, Member of the Central Committee of the PCC and Head of its Department of International Relations.
In the context of the “1st International Colloquium Fidel: Legacy and Future” being held in Cuba, and in the presence of the First Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, Noemí Rabaza Fernández, the distinction awarded honours the dedication and unconditional solidarity that Vera Policarpou has shared with Cuba, Fidel, its people, and its Revolution for so many years.
Very touched by the simple and moving ceremony among friends in struggle and in life, Vera expressed her gratitude by recalling her origins, her childhood, and even her family history and how her Party fundamentally influenced her, shaping her into the person she is today—a woman grateful for her education, for her connections with Cubans, and for having “Spanish as the language of her heart.”
Knowing the language “gave him the opportunity to travel to Cuba for the first time in 1990, accompanying our then Party General Secretary, Dimítris Christófias, and to have that first meeting with Fidel in November 1990. I will never forget it. A four-hour meeting (…) and listening to those analyses he made, the details he knew about everything happening in our region, in Cyprus, in the world, and telling us everything that was going to come with the fall of the Soviet Union.”
“When Fidel told us how things were being prepared in Cuba, when he told us that -- 'if we reached 1994, they will never defeat the Cuban Revolution' -- that stayed in my heart. And that’s why I did everything; without thinking, it just came out naturally in us, everything we’ve done for Cuba,” Vera noted, visibly moved.
She recalled the year 1992 when they founded the Cyprus-Cuba Friendship Association in his country, even though he was aware that it wasn't necessary to establish it, because everyone there loves Cuba. “From the Association,” he pointed out, “this is the work we will continue doing; because we really believe in the Cuban people, in the Cuban Revolution, in the justice and righteousness of the struggle that will continue here (Cuba) with all of us by your side.”
“I receive this medal as a great honor, and we will keep working as always. Thank you.”
The Embassy of Cuba in Cyprus shares the congratulations to Vera Policarpou for so many decades of sincere support, solidarity, and dedication to Cuba and its people, and on their behalf, joins in the recognition granted by our authorities.
Embassy of Cuba in Cyprus