65 Years Of Relations Between Indonesia And Cuba, Chairman Of JMSI: The Fire Of Friendship Must Continue To Burn

Ambassador Dagmar Gonzales Grau received the General Chair of the Indonesian Media Network (JMSI) Teguh Santosa. (IST)

Entering the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Indonesia, the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Jakarta will hold a number of activities that are expected to improve the quality of people-to-people relations.

The Cuban Ambassador to Indonesia, Dagmar Gonzales Grau, wants the younger generation in the two countries to continue to remember and learn valuable lessons from the good relations that have existed for a long time.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries began on January 22, 1960 when President Sukarno visited Havana and held a historic meeting with Cuba's supreme leader, Fidel Castro. For Cuba, Bung Karno's visit, one of the gasmen of the Non-Aligned Movement (GNB), was strategically valued because it was carried out a year after the Castro et al-cove-led revolution. succeeded in overthrowing the Fulgencio Batista regime, which was supported by neutral forces.

Bung Karno's trip to Cuba complied with Castro's invitation delivered by the then Minister of Industry, Che Guevara, who visited Indonesia in mid- 1959.

"We want the younger generation of the two countries to maintain the fire of friendship that has been ignited by the leaders of the revolution of the two countries," said Ambassador Dagmar Gonzales Grau when receiving the General Chair of the Indonesian Media Network (JMSI) Teguh Santosa at the Cuban Embassy in the Pondok Indah area, South Jakarta, Tuesday, December 24.

Ambassador Dagma Gonzales Grau hopes that the media network led by Teguh is pleased to form a partnership to help commemorate diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Cuba.

When receiving Teguh, Ambassador Dagmar Gonzales Grau was accompanied by the First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy Juan Francisco Noyola Ugalde. Meanwhile, Teguh was accompanied by the Head of the JMSI Foreign Affairs, Yophiandi Kurniawan.

In the meeting of the Cuban Ambassador and the General Chair of JMSI, among others, discussed Cuban humanitarian assistance for Indonesia shortly after Aceh and the surrounding areas were hit by an earthquake and tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people in December 2004. To help ease the suffering of the victims, Cuba sent 25 doctors and medicine packages.

Two years later, Cuba again sent a humanitarian team Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade (HRIMB) to Indonesia. This time to Jogjakarta which was hit by a big earthquake in May 2006.

Ambassador Dagmar said that one of the activities they will hold is an exhibition and discussion about Cuban solidarity in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Teguh Santosa, who is also a lecturer in international relations at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), Jakarta, said he agrees with Ambassador Dagmar. The relationship between the two countries has never overcome obstacles in the midst of changing the global political landscape and new challenges in sight.

Efforts to maintain the fire of friendship must continue. In the digital era and the current disruption of information, there are new challenges. However, new opportunities are open," said Teguh.

In a meeting with Ambassador Dagmar Gonzales Grau, Teguh handed over a book entitled Buldozer from Palestine' which he wrote. This book is one of Teguh Santosa's interview groups with the ambassador of a friendly country in Jakarta.

In addition, Teguh also played the musicalization of a poem entitled To Che' which he wrote after a visit to Santa Clara, Cuba, in 2019. The musicalization of the poem used artificial intelligence (AI) assistance.

Santa Clara in Cuba is a city often associated with Che Guevara. In that city, Che Guevara and the troops he led at the end of December 1958 managed to stop and destroy the reserve forces sent by the Batista regime from Havana to the Santiago de Cuba.

The fighting in Santa Clara is a part that determines the victory of the revolutionarys. In the early hours of January 1, 1959, Batista and his supporters fled Cuba.