Senior Lieutenant General Mai Quang Phan, Deputy Director of the Vietnam People’s Army’s General Department of Politics, hosted a reception in Hanoi on January 26 for a visiting delegation of relatives of the Cuban martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the Cuban independence.

The delegation was led by Major General Delsa Esther Puebla Viltre, a heroine of the Republic of Cuba.

Speaking at the meeting, Phan expressed his deep respect for the immeasurable support from Cubans during Vietnam’s struggle for independence.

He hailed the 50-year relationship between the two countries, saying that as a friend and a comrade, Vietnam has always been at the side of the Cuban armed forces and people in a fight for peace, national independence and socialism.

For her part, Puebla Viltre thanked her host for warm welcome and reiterated the traditional ties nurtured and deepened by late President Ho Chi Minh and President Fidel Castro, as well as later generations of both nation’s Party and Government leaders.

Earlier, the Cuban guests also visited the High Command of Air Defence and Air Force, Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) newspaper and the Central Committee of the Vietnam War Veterans’ Association.-VNA