Cuban media feature wide coverage of Vietnamese Party leader

Granma, the official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba, and many other dailies have run a number of articles about Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on these days. (Photo: VNA)

HAVANA – The Cuban media have provided extensive coverage of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyễn Phú Trọng, highlighting his enormous contributions to Việt Nam as well as the two countries’ relations.

On its July 25 issue, the Juventud Rebelde daily reserved an entire page for demonstrating the Cuban Party, State, and people’s sentiments towards General Secretary Trọng. The front page also featured a report on leaders of Cuba, including First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, coming to pay their last respects to the CPV chief at the Vietnamese Embassy in Havana on July 24.

The newspaper also mentioned General Secretary Trọng’s visits to Cuba, especially the trip to Santiago de Cuba in March 2018 to commemorate leader of the Cuban revolution Fidel Castro Ruz.

It cited Speaker of the National Assembly of People’s Power and President of the Council of State of Cuba Esteban Lazo Hernandez, who visited Vietnam to attend the state funeral, as talking to Vietnamese leaders that Cuba feels this loss as its own.

On July 22, when Cuba declared national mourning for General Secretary Trọng, Granma – the official organ of the PCC, and many other dailies in the Caribbean nation turned the traditional colours of their publications into black in commemoration of the Vietnamese Party chief.

Granma reserved a whole page of its July 22 issue to cover the CPV leader’s statements about the important role of the youth. It cited many parts of his speech at the celebration of the 90th founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26, 1931 – 2021).

The Cuba media underscored General Secretary Trọng’s influence on the two countries’ special ties. They noted he used to visit Cuba for five times during which he met and had working sessions with the country’s top leaders, and that each visit further strengthened Vietnam’s relations with Party and State leaders as well as people of Cuba.

The media outlets described Trọng as a close friend of many leaders of Cuba such as Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, and many current ones.

They also reported that General Secretary Trọng used to be granted the Order of Jose Marti, the noblest of Cuba, in 2012 in recognition of this exceptional contributions to the solidarity and friendship between the two Parties, States, and peoples. He was also granted the Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctor) title on political science by the University of Havana in 2018. VNS