NA Chairwoman leaves Hanoi to attend funeral for Cuban leader

Hanoi (VNA) – Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and a high-level Party and State delegation left Hanoi on November 28 for Cuba to attend the State funeral for Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who passed away on November 25. 

Fidel was born on August 13, 1926, in Oriente province (now Holguin). He led the Cuban revolution to victory, seizing the administration on January 1, 1959. 

He served as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976. He held the position as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) from 1965 to April 2011 

From 1976 to 2008, Fidel was member of the parliament and was elected as President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers. 

On July 31, 2006, due to health reason, Fidel handed over the power to Raul Castro, the then Second Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and First Vice President of the Council of State. 

In February 2008, Fidel declared not to run for election to the seventh National Assembly and State leadership positions. He also resigned from his post as First Secretary of the CPC Central Committee at the sixth Congress of the CPC in April 2011. 

Fidel and Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh were those who built and nurtured the Vietnam-Cuba traditional friendship. The close ties between the two countries then have fostered by generations of leaders and peoples of both sides. 

Fidel made three visits to Vietnam in September 1973, December 1995, and February 2003. He was the first foreign leader to visit the newly-liberated area in the central province of Quang Tri in 1973. He was also a leader of international movements to support Vietnam’s struggle for national independence, reunification, and socialist building and defence. 

With all his great contributions, Fidel was presented with the Vietnamese State’s Golden Star Order in 1982 and Ho Chi Minh Order in 1989.-VNA