Ambassador of Cuba to Lesotho, Enrique Orta González
Cuba and Lesotho have maintained a friendly and fraternal connection, that have resulted in 45 years of a fruitful relationship. Since the formalization of diplomatic ties in 1979, bilateral relations have been permanently strengthened.
We have successfully cooperated on several fields, including health, education and sports, on the basis of friendship, cooperation and solidarity. Cuba has also contributed and continues to contribute to the academic training of young Basotho students, through the granting of annual scholarships, in a wide variety of fields such as medicine, physical education and sport, agronomy, veterinary medicine, mining, economics, engineering and computer science, among others. Thanks to this program, dozens of young people from the Mountain Kingdom have graduated from Cuban institutions, which has had a great social impact on the country.
We remember with particular affection the visit to Cuba by His Majesty King Letsie III, at the invitation of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, where a strong bilateral program was fulfilled and both heads of State emphasized their commitment to continue deepening and diversifying the bilateral ties that unite our countries and peoples.
We deeply appreciate the traditional and continued support of the government and people of Lesotho, in rejection of the illegal economic blockade by the United States against our country and its endorsement of the Cuban resolution presented every year before the United Nations General Assembly to demand an end to this criminal policy.
We’re also grateful to the Prime Minister and Head of Government of the kingdom, Honorable Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane, for having condemned the blockade and the sanctions against Cuba in his speech at last year´s General Debate of the UN General Assembly. We will never forget the kingdom has stood by the side of Cuba in this, our hardest fight.
Today, Cuba and Lesotho enjoy cordial bilateral relations and we are keen to continue promoting the development of cooperation projects between our countries. We will continue to advance to higher levels, based on the solid common values that unite us, in the pursuit of peace, well-being and prosperity for our peoples and the rest of the peoples of the world.