By: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- Algeria has been enjoying a strong and solid allyship with Cuba since its independence from French colonialism in the early 1960s. Both nations are bound by historical relations of friendship and solidarity based on their common values of freedom, peace, and justice. Their privileged historical relations trace back to the common struggle of their peoples and their commitment to support just causes worldwide.
The support for peoples’ struggles for independence in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is, for Cubans, a source of great joy; Cubans are determined to defend a new fair and equitable international order in favor of developing countries. They stand in unwavering solidarity with the just causes, starting from the Algerian cause during barbaric colonialism to the Palestinian and Sahrawi peoples’ inalienable rights to self-determination and independence.
Cuba was the only country in the Western Hemisphere to have recognized, in 1961, the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA) as the legitimate government of Algeria. In December 1961, the Cuban ship Bahia de Nipe left Havana with numerous weapons to land in Casablanca. From this Moroccan city, they were transported in January 1962 to the FLN camp, near Oujda, near the Algerian border. Back in Havana, the ship Bahia de Nipe anchored with 78 wounded militants and 20 children from the refugee camps, most of them orphans.
Since October 17, 1962, Cuba and Algeria have maintained diplomatic relations. On this date, the then Prime Minister of Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella, signed a joint declaration with his Cuban counterpart, Fidel Castro Ruz, formally establishing bilateral relations. A year later, in May 1963, Cuba’s first internationalist medical brigade arrived in that African country, an event referred to in history as the beginning of the Revolution’s solidarity cooperation. Thousands of Cuban professionals have served the nation. Since then, both nations have maintained close ties, and their collaboration covers the sectors of health, energy, construction, education, culture, and sports, among others.
We, as Algerians, remember the “Dignity Operation”, with the arrival on October 22, 1963, of the Cuban military contingent that came to support the nascent Algerian Republic against the Moroccan invader, under Fidel Castro’s maxim: “For Algeria, all the help it needs”. The contingent remained until March 1964 and helped to prepare the young People’s National Army, an indestructible bastion of the triumphant Algerian Revolution and worthy heir to the glorious National Liberation Army.
Algerian-Cuban relations are evaluating at a rapid pace in line with the commitments made by the high authorities of the two countries, following the visit, last November, of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez to Algiers, and the holding of a business forum in Havana with an Algerian delegation, headed by Health Minister Abdelhak Saihi, devoted to the inking of a range of cooperation agreements, crowning privileged relations, as declared by His Excellency, the Cuban Ambassador in Algiers, Mr. Armando Vergara Bueno who has been deploying tireless efforts, since his arrival in Algiers, to promote historical and economic ties between the two friendly countries, welcoming, on different occasions, the dynamics of relations between Algiers and Havana, and lauding Algeria’ stances in favor of Cuba, which, for more than 60 years, has been facing an arbitrary blockade imposed by the United States of America.
Imbued with the revolutionary doctrine deeply rooted and anchored in his country and Algeria, the Cuban Ambassador to Algeria, Armando Vergara Bueno, is conducting a very active policy aimed at widening the scope of cooperation between the two friendly countries in order to give it a real dimension.
Based on the depth of the historical bilateral relations, which reflect the ties of brotherhood uniting the two sisterly countries, the Cuban Ambassador to Algeria holds periodic meetings with Algerian senior officials and Algerian media personnel with a view to discussing mechanisms able to step up these distinguished relations.
Aware that communication on digital tools has gained new relevance in the last decade and that embassies may leverage virtual worlds to expose foreign populations to their national culture, His Excellency, the Cuban Ambassador, has embraced these communication platforms, stepping outside embassy walls and engaging with an opinionated online public.
He is effectively operational on these non-traditional media outlets, contributing to bridging a better understanding between the two brotherly peoples and forging relationships with varied audiences via publications posted on a daily basis aimed at further bolstering these ties and curating information. By sharing newspaper articles, policy papers, and reports, the ambassador is helping audiences sift through the cluttered online environment.
To this end, the Ambassador shares on his personal accounts on Facebook and Twitter, along with the posts of the official accounts of the embassy, daily news about Cuba and the activities of the Cuban diplomatic mission in Algeria, while maintaining permanent communication channels with internet users. These pages are the best sources to get up-to-date information regarding Algerian-Cuban relations as they manifest both countries online. Such activities illustrate how both nations share similar ideals and values, a common struggle, cultural dimensions, and historic narratives.
One more exciting thing is that the language is no longer an obstacle for both peoples, as the Ambassador provides news in multiple languages, namely Spanish, Arabic, English, and French.