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Raul Castro said that he was accepting the award “Not as a personal title but in the name of all our people"
On Wednesday, Cuban revolutionary leader and ex-President Raul Castro was awarded the Order of Lenin by the Russian Communist Party following the annual May Day celebrations in Havana.
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The prize was established during the Soviet period and awarded regularly. Russia’s Communist Party has continued handing it out to a select few.
The party says that the prize is awarded for “an exceptional contribution to the construction of Socialism, and towards the consolidation of the principles of justice, humanism and social progress.”
The ceremony took place at Jose Marti’s memorial in Havana. The prize was awarded by Ivan Melnikov, Vice president of Russia’s State Douma, along with leaders of the country’s Communist Party. Also present was President Miguel Diaz-Canel along with the whole politburo of the Cuban Communist Party.
Raul Castro said that he was accepting the award “Not as a personal title, but in the name of all our people, of the Communist cadres and as in recognition of the leadership of our party”.
Melnikov said that this is “The consolidation of our strategic association and the strengthening of our positions in the face of issues that concern our mutual interests and international spaces.” He also celebrated “the path of bravery and resistance of the Cuban people, in the midst of continual political and economic pressures from the enemies of this island of liberty”
The prize was created in 1925. Other notable recipients include astronaut Yuri Gagarin, South African Nelson Mandela, and classical composer Dmitri Shostakovich.
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