SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 5 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has indicated that the budget items of the assistance programs for the Canary Islands population in Cuba have experienced an increase in the General Budgets of the Canary Islands for 2023 and that, in an extraordinary way, a special plan has been prepared , endowed with 100,000 euros, with which the number of people receiving humanitarian aid in Cuba can be increased from the current 300 beneficiaries to 1,500, starting this year.
This was reported during his visit this Sunday to the municipality of Cabaiguán (approximately 60,000 inhabitants), in the province of Sancti Spíritus, together with the Spanish ambassador to Cuba, Ángel Martín, and the Cuban Vice Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas.
At the Country Club of that town, the president of the Canary Islands Executive was received by the local authorities and was accompanied, during his visit, by the president of the Casa Canaria de Cabaiguán, Mario López.
Ángel Víctor Torres was also at the Casa Canaria de Cabaiguán to attend a sample of the Danza Isleña de Pozas folkloric group, a group dedicated to maintaining Canarian traditions on the Caribbean island and which has been in existence for 91 years. The event was attended by around 480 people of Canarian origin and descendants of Canarians and Canarians coming from Cabaiguán from other places in the province of Sancti Spíritus and from Cienfuegos, Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila.
Torres, together with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Action, Juan Rafael Zamora, and the General Director of Emigration of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Rodríguez, learned first-hand of the situation experienced by the Canarian population residing in Cuba, to whom he expressed his satisfaction for attend this visit, “which helps us to strengthen the family, historical and cultural ties that unite us and with which we demonstrate that there is only one Canarian heart, the one that beats in the same way regardless of the place where one resides”.
The president of the Canary Islands assured that he would have liked to have come earlier, “but the tremendous circumstances that we have experienced these years with the covid or the volcano on La Palma have made it difficult to make this official trip on earlier dates.” Torres also wanted to thank all the affection received from the Canary Islands in Cuba towards the residents of La Palma, who have suffered the worst consequences of the volcanic eruption. “You are also the Canaries and we feel you close,” he added.
Finally, Torres indicated that “the Government of the Canary Islands will always be with you.” In addition, he stressed that his Executive has a clear commitment, which it is fulfilling, so that aid for international development cooperation increases year after year until 2027, in which Cuba has been considered a priority country, along with Venezuela and countries of the western fringe of Africa.
