the president of KenyaUhuru Kenyatta, reiterated to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, his efforts to free the two kidnapped Cuban doctors in that African nation. The issue was addressed during a meeting held in the city of Nairobi, as part of the official visit of the Cuban Foreign Minister.
The surgeon Landy Rodríguez Hernández and the specialist in general medicine Assel Herrera Correa They were kidnapped by alleged members of the Somali jihadist group Al Shabab on April 12, 2019, when they were on their way to work at the hospital in the city of Mandera, in the northeastern county of the same name.
In a fraternal meeting with the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, we confirm the will to continue deepening the bonds of friendship and cooperation ????. I appreciated the continued efforts to ensure the safe return to #Cuba of our two kidnapped doctors. pic.twitter.com/3IHYt7Ullx
– Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) July 2, 2022
After their capture, the doctors were transferred to Somalia and handed over to Al Shabab, an organization that affiliated with Al Qaeda in 2012 and controls part of central and southern Somalia with the intention of establishing a Wahhabi-style Islamic State in the country (ultraconservative ).
Until element it is not known with certainty what fate the two doctors have suffered, despite government efforts.
On the third anniversary of the abduction, on April 12, sources from the Cuban embassy in Nairobi told the Spanish agency Eph that “hope is not lost”, but they admitted that they did not have proof of life and stressed that there was no news in the case.
On the other hand, the matter returned to the Kenyan media on March 23 when a court in the country sentenced the driver of the vehicle in which the two doctors were traveling when they were kidnapped to life imprisonment, after convicting him of collaborating in their abduction.
Kenya: life sentence for implicated in the kidnapping of the two Cuban doctors
The Spanish agency recalls that the two doctors were part of a contingent of a hundred Cuban professionals -including radiologists, plastic and orthopedic surgeons, neurologists and nephrologists- who arrived in Kenya in 2018 as part of a bilateral agreement to improve access to services specialized health workers in that African country.
After the kidnapping, many of the Cuban doctors who practiced in some of the Kenyan regions bordering Somalia were relocateddepending on the medium.
Despite the fact, during a visit to Cuba in June 2021, the Kenyan Minister of Health, Mutahi Kagwe signed a new agreement of cooperation with the Island for the sending of 101 Cuban specialists to Kenya within the framework of an exchange program between both countries.
During the exchange with the African president, Rodríguez Parrilla assured this time that “both countries will continue working together to strengthen their bilateral ties at all levels.” He also transmitted a “special message” from his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
For his part, Uhuru Kenyatta expressed to the head of Cuban diplomacy that he valued the Cuban government’s support for his country and reiterated that “Cuba has a true friend in Kenya,” referring to the bilateral cooperation agreement for sending Cuban doctors with the objective of strengthening primary care in the African country, according to the report of Eph.
“We will always stand in solidarity with you in any multilateral forum,” added Kenyatta, receiving Parilla at his Official Residence (State House), accompanied by the current Cuban ambassador to the country, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Vázquez, the report added.
Cuban diplomatic sources reported that during his visit to Kenya, the head of the Minrex held an exchange with his Kenyan counterpart Raychelle Omamo, and met with workers from the Embassy and members of the mission of Cuban collaborators in the African nation.
The Cuban foreign minister arrived in Kenya after visiting Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania, as part of his tour of the African continent.
Efe/OnCuba.
