Good evening:
It is an honor for me to share with you in my first official activity as Ambassador of Cuba in the Arab Republic of Egypt and join the work team of the Embassy to further strengthen the traditional friendly relations between both countries.
This occasion has a special significance because we are celebrating 60 years of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
They have been many years of struggle, difficult moments and also many successes. Today, the Cuban revolution is an international reference, not only for its achievements, but also for the solidarity it offers other brotherly peoples in the world.
We cannot forget at this time to mention the figure of our eternal commander Fidel Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, who professed from the very beginning of the revolution an intimate friendship with President Nasser and with the Egyptian people.
Building the Cuban Revolution has not been free of sacrifices and challenges, but overcoming these difficulties, have been achieved a health system with universal coverage, free assistance and guarantee comprehensive medical care to 100% of the population.
It is the country best endowed in the number of doctors per inhabitants, according to the World Health Organization. Cuban children are vaccinated against 13 diseases, one of the immunization programs with the highest coverage in the world. In 2015, Cuba was the first country in the world to receive certification from the World Health Organization for having eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
Universal and free coverage at all levels of education is also guaranteed. According to the Monitoring Report on Education for All in the World, prepared by UNESCO, Cuba is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean that managed to fulfill all of the global objectives of Education for All.
Cuba has not limited itself to protecting the lives of its citizens, but has contributed to improve the living conditions of other peoples and nations, through international cooperation projects and solidarity aid. More than one thousand 500 million patients were attended in consultations; more than 6 million 500 thousand lives saved; more than 2 million 900 thousand deliveries; and more than 10 million surgical interventions, these are several of the statistics that illustrate the internationalist dimension of our country. Cuban specialists have saved or improved the vision of almost 3 million patients in 34 countries under the "Operation Miracle" Program, under which free ophthalmic surgeries have been performed.
Up to the 2015-2016 school year, 73,448 foreign students had graduated in Cuba. 87.3% of the graduates came from countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
The "I can" program, King Sejong Prize of UNESCO, has allowed to graduate 9 million 530 thousand 248 people in more than 30 countries and 1 million 346 thousand 082 in post-literacy.
Next year, the draft Constitution will be put to a vote, which has already been subjected to a broad process of popular discussion throughout the country, as has been the practice in Cuba throughout the history of the Revolution. Each Cuban citizen, inside and outside the national territory, was able to express his criteria and suggest changes to the document.
The Cuban people will continue to defend the Revolution that made possible enjoying their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of every person in the country, despite the blockade of the United States, which remains the main obstacle to development of Cuba and a flagrant violation of human rights.
We do not want to end without mentioning that this year 2018 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Cuba-Egypt friendship association and in the next year 2019 we will be celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries.
The friendship that unites Egypt and Cuba, is recognized by Fidel Castro, as he expressed in 1979 "No one is unaware of Egypt's historical role in Arab culture and development, nor its merits as the founder and promoter of the Non-Aligned Countries" or when, in one of his reflections, he stated "In Egypt live an intelligent people, of glorious history, that left its mark on human civilization."
Long live the friendship between Cuba and Egypt,
Long live Egypt
Long live the Cuban Revolution