Nguyen Doan Thang, director of the Rang Dong Light Source and Vacuum Flask Joint Stock Company, emphasised the historic significance of the military attack on the Moncada barracks led by Fidel Castro on July 26, 1953.

He said the attack kick-started the Cuban people’s armed revolution against the Batista dictatorship which ended in victory on January 1, 1959, ushering in a new era of independence, freedom and socialism for the island country.

“The Vietnamese people will always stand side-by-side with the Cuban people and lend them the strongest support as well as solidarity”, said Thang.

For his part, Charge d’Affairs a.i. Paulo Fernandez Alberto of the Cuban embassy in Vietnam said that the celebration reflected the ever-lasting fraternity and friendship between the two nations. He said bilateral friendship has been increasingly strengthened by solidarity and mutual support between Vietnamese and Cuban people at international organisations and meetings all over the world.