HAVANA, Dec 9: Cuban President Raul Castro will attend the funeral of South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, state media reported today.
It was unlikely, however, that Castro’s ailing older brother Fidel, the Cuban communist revolutionary leader, would make the long trip to pay final respects to his long-time friend.
Castro will be accompanied on his visit by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, according to the official statement read on television.
The Cuban authorities had decreed three days of national mourning in tribute to Mandela, a “close friend” of Cuba, where he paid one of his first foreign visits after he was released from 27 years in prison for anti-apartheid activities.
About 400,000 Cuban troops fought in Angola during the 1980s and defeated the South African Army in a battle that helped trigger the fall of the apartheid regime.
The memorials and events will culminate in Mandela’s burial on December 15 in his boyhood home of Qunu. (AGENCIES)
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