Cuba receives the Polisario’s leader one year after re-establishing ties with Morocco

Cuban President Miguel Dias-Canel received on Tuesday, December the 4th, in Havana the Polisario’s leader Brahim Ghali, who traveled to the country for a «four-day official visit», reports the Front’s «official news agency».

Ghali arrived in Cuba on Sunday, accompanied with Mansur Omar «Delegate Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Latin America», Malainin Tgana «Saharawi Ambassador» in Cuba and Abdati Breika, «Councilor of the Presidency».

This visit comes as Morocco and Cuba formally normalized in 2017 their bilateral ties after decades of diplomatic rupture, as it was announced by the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

37 years after Morocco and Cuba cut diplomatic relations, Havana appointed Elio Eduardo Rodriguez Perdomo as an Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of his country to Rabat.

On the other hand, Boughaleb El Attar presented his credentials as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Morocco to Cuba on June 29.

Reviving diplomatic relations with Cuba was initiated after the two countries signed a joint statement on the re-establishment of the relations at the level of ambassadors at the United Nations in April 2017, only one week after King Mohammed VI visited Havana.

For the record, Cuba recognized «SADR» in January 1980, and did not withdraw its recognition even when it normalized diplomatic relations with Morocco.