The president of the government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, announced this Sunday in Cabaiguán, a small town in the center of Cuba, that direct aid for the Canaries on the island of Cuba will be multiplied by five, to benefit more than 1,500 families .
In front of several hundred Canarians and their descendants, Torres made the announcement during the first day of his visit to the Caribbean country, where he intends to meet with members of the largest Canarian community abroad (some 65,000 people) and with national and local authorities.
The Canarian president explained that this aid is due to a special plan endowed with 100,000 euros. The money is expected to start flowing this year.
“This is good news,” he later summarized in statements to the media, to which he also expressed the importance of “solidarity” in difficult times.
Torres also added that there is already an extra-budgetary political “commitment” to financially help “canary brothers outside the eight islands” with the international cooperation budget item, which will increase “progressively until 2027.” “That is guaranteed,” said the Prime Minister.
Last night, upon my arrival in Cuba, I had a pleasant talk with the Spanish ambassador, Ángel Martín, and the Vice Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas, who told me that his grandmother was from Arucas, without knowing that that is where I was born.
There are many ties that unite us. Now, heading to Cabaiguán ???? pic.twitter.com/KAswPtuFL0— Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez (@avtorresp) February 5, 2023
The Spanish politician said that he would have wanted to “come earlier” to Cuba to visit a community with which the Canary Islands share “ties and ancestors”, but that it was impossible for him due to the confluence of the pandemic, migration, the La Palma volcano and difficulties arising from the war in Ukraine.
The Canarian president made this visit to Cabaiguán –the Cuban city with the most Canarians– accompanied, among others, by the Spanish ambassador to Cuba, Ángel Martín Peccis, and the Cuban Vice Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas.
The Canarian president is expected to hold several meetings this Monday with high-ranking officials of the Cuban government, including the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, and of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca.
Torres’ visit to Cuba is part of the president’s Latin American tour of countries with significant Canarian migration and which also includes Venezuela.
