Floral wreaths were placed in front of the statue of Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar located in Havana's Avenue of the Presidents coinciding with the 196th anniversary of the independence of Venezuela.

During the ceremony, Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba Alí Rodríguez said that, today, there is a rebirth in Latin America of the ideas of independence heroes Francisco Miranda, Bolivar, Bernardo O'Higgins, José Gervasio Artigas and Jose Marti.

"We share the same territory, the same traditions, historic origin, language, religious beliefs and problems," said the diplomat.For her part, Venezuelan Lorena Guzmán, a sophomore medicine student at the Felix Eden Aguada Medical School in the Cuban central province of Cienfuegos, recalled that on July 5th, 1811, the then Constituent Congress announced the independence of Venezuela from the Spanish colonial rule and stressed that her homeland will never surrender to any empire.

Also present in the ceremony were Havana City Historian Eusebio Leal and members of the diplomatic corps accredited on the island as well as Venezuelan students and patients in Cuba.Source: CubaSi.