Cuba - Vietnam: Deep brotherhood and comradeship

President Fidel Castro's saying "For Vietnam, Cuba is willing to sacrifice its own blood" will forever be a beautiful symbol of the close brotherly solidarity and loyalty between the two nations and peoples.

Cuban President Fidel Castro with soldiers of the Khe Sanh Battalion, Tri Thien Hue Liberation Army, during a visit to the liberated area of ​​Quang Tri, September 15, 1973. Photo: VNA

Historic visits

President Fidel Castro became the first and only foreign leader to visit the liberated zone of South Vietnam. During his first historic visit to Vietnam in September 1973, Fidel made five very long speeches, directly expressing his love, complete, thorough, and strongest support for the just cause of the Vietnamese people. Standing on Hill 241, Cam Lo, Quang Tri, Fidel raised high the flag of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam: "Comrades, please plant this invincible flag in the middle of Saigon!". Less than two years later, that became true.

On that occasion, Fidel presented Vietnam with five large projects worth 80 million USD: the 150-room Thang Loi international quality hotel in West Lake (Hanoi) “to welcome visitors”; the 500-bed modern Dong Hoi General Hospital in Quang Binh “to treat soldiers from the South and people in the most fierce war zones”; the Moncada bull breeding farm in Ba Vi, the Moc Chau dairy cow breeding farm and the chicken breeding farm in Tam Dao with the best breeds and the most modern equipment to develop cattle and chicken farming to serve the people’s lives; the Xuan Mai road for travel, which when needed would be turned into a runway for fighter planes, along with a sum of foreign currency for Vietnam to buy modern equipment to expand the Ho Chi Minh trail, preparing for the 1975 Spring general offensive.

Prime Minister Pham Van Dong and Comrade Fidel Castro, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and Prime Minister of the Cuban Revolutionary Government, visit Dong Ha town (Quang Tri), which was destroyed by war and is being restored (September 1973). Photo: VNA

Returning to Vietnam on December 10, 1995, Fidel emotionally expressed, “Ho Chi Minh's dream when he said "Nothing is more precious than Independence and Freedom" and "On the day of victory, we will build the country a hundred times more beautiful" has been realized... With all my heart, I want to hug all the heroes present today, and also the heroes mentioned here.”

During his last visit to Vietnam (February 22, 2003), after recalling the deep impressions of his two previous visits, Fidel expressed: “I really admire what you have achieved in a relatively short period of time, from a country devastated by war. Perhaps there are still many difficulties, difficulties always exist, but no difficulty can overcome the determination, patience, and selfless work spirit of this wonderful nation…”

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong presents President Raul Castro Ruz with the Gold Star Order. Photo: Reuters

In July 2012, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba Raul Castro Ruz paid an official friendly visit to Vietnam at the invitation of the leaders of our Party and State. The talks and meetings during the visit took place in the spirit of brotherly trust. The two sides had in-depth discussions on all aspects of the relationship between the two Parties and the two countries and specific measures to further deepen the comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba; promote economic and trade cooperation solutions in accordance with new conditions and the interests of each country.

Special affection for Uncle Ho

Fidel's love for Vietnam was not only shown through nearly 100 speeches but also through what he expressed in his meetings with our leaders and people.

Fidel sent two close comrades in arms among the five highest Cuban leaders to visit Uncle Ho in Hanoi. Photo: Archive

First of all, we must mention Fidel's special feelings for Uncle Ho. Although the two leaders did not have the opportunity to meet, there was a similarity in ideals, thinking, courage, will, determination, personality, feelings... between the two great men. Fidel expressed to the public countless times his love, respect and special admiration for Uncle Ho. Fidel once sent envoys to Vietnam to bring special gifts to Uncle Ho such as giant Cuban frogs, state-of-the-art ice cream machines and newly imported Cuban ingredients.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Bin - former Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs once shared that he could never forget the moments when he welcomed Fidel to visit Uncle Ho at the Vietnamese Embassy in Cuba right after the news of Uncle Ho's death, witnessing his face full of sadness and emotion. He sat for a long time to ask about Uncle Ho, expressing his deep regret for not having met him. Fidel sent two of his close comrades in arms among the five highest leaders of Cuba, Revolutionary Commanders Juan Almeida and Ramiro Valdes, to visit Uncle Ho in Hanoi.

During his first visit to Vietnam, he once again praised Uncle Ho's morality, genius and great contributions to Vietnam as well as to the revolutionary cause and national liberation in the world. Then his voice dropped: "We only have one heartache: we were not able to come to Vietnam before September 3, 1969, and we were not fortunate enough to meet directly President Ho Chi Minh, whom we greatly admire. But we were compensated by meeting and being close to the Vietnamese people and seeing reflected in the Vietnamese people his career, his teachings, his education, his contributions and examples, his heroism and his modesty."

It can be said that the solidarity in fighting, the wholehearted support and assistance of Fidel and the Cuban people towards Vietnam is unique in history. Photo: VNA

A rare model of solidarity

Cuba has always been the pioneer and most prominent country in the world movement to support Vietnam against foreign invaders. No other country has demonstrated solidarity in fighting and wholehearted support for Vietnam's just cause through concrete, diverse, enthusiastic, thorough, practical, continuous and increasingly strong actions from the central to the grassroots level throughout the country like Cuba.

Cuba was the first country in the world to establish a Solidarity Committee with Vietnam with an organizational system from the central to the grassroots level. It was the first country to recognize the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, allowing the Front to establish a representative office in Havana with diplomatic status, providing all means and funding for operations. Cuba was also the first country to send an Ambassador to present its credentials and the first country to send journalists to visit the liberated areas of the South.

Cuba has given Vietnam generous and selfless assistance while it was still poor, deprived, had to implement the ration card system and received foreign aid. It is impossible to count the diverse solidarity activities with Vietnam that have been organized in Cuba from the central to the local level. It is also impossible to know how many streets, schools, factories, parks, etc. in Cuba bear the name of Vietnam.

The special relationship between Vietnam and Cuba is increasingly strong. Photo: anninhthudo

It can be said that no other country has demonstrated solidarity in fighting and wholehearted support for Vietnam's just cause through concrete, diverse, enthusiastic, thorough, practical, strong, and continuous actions throughout the country like Cuba. That sentiment is unique in history and is a noble model that needs to be built in modern international relations.