Leonel Fernández Participates in Fidel Castro’s Funeral

President of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode), Dr. Leonel Fernández, has attended the funeral ceremony of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz.

On Saturday night Fernández participated in the mass gathering held at the Plaza Antonio Maceo, and on Sunday attended the funeral itself at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, the resting place of Cuban
dignitaries.

During the remembrance events for Fidel Castro, Fernández shared the stage with presidents Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Jocelerme Privert of Haití, and Evo Morales of Bolivia, as well as the politicians Alfred Marie-Jeanne of Martinique, Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, and Mulatu Teshome of Ethiopia. The events also included the participation of former heads of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil
and René Preval of Haiti.

During an interview with the official Cuban newspaper Granma, Fernández called the loss of Fidel “irreparable” and stated that the Cuban leader was the must influential figure of the past century not just in Latin American but also in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world.

In addition, the former Dominican head of state highlighted Castro’s solidarity with the Dominican
Republic, especially during the military occupation by the United States in 1965. That support, said Fernández, strengthened the friendship that has always existed between Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

“In my case, I met Fidel 20 years ago during the Sixth Iberoamerican Summit in Viñas del Mar, Chile. We traveled by bus from Santiago de Chile to Viña del Mar, and I was seated alongside Fidel. During the trip of more than three hours, I had the privilege of
chatting extensively with him,” Fernández recounted.

“What I discovered was that Fidel was a person of insatiable curiosity. He spoke in questions. He asked about things that one would never imagine. He wanted to know about everything. It was an intellectual challenge,” added the Dominican statesman, who noted that Castro was always engaged in the battle of ideas and this gave him a capacity to influence the peoples of Latin America and other
places in the world.

Fernández recalled that following his first encounter with Castro in Chile, he received the opportunity to reestablish formal diplomatic relations between the Dominican Republic with Cuba, which had been broken in 1959 by the then Dominican president Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina.

During his statements to Granma, Fernández confirmed that for his generation, and for himself personally, Fidel Castro is a point of
reference as to how to exercise political leadership with a sense of responsibility.

Related Links: http://leonelfernandez.com/noticias/