Every year, the Office of the Historian of Camagüey city celebrates the Cultural Diversity Day. On this occasion, the celebration will be dedicated to Panama and to the presidential visit that General Omar Torrijos made to Camagüey, in 1976.

That visit caused the ​​people to fill the streets of Camaguey, which accompanied the route of the leaders from the Ignacio Agramonte airport to the door of the Panama sugar mill, in the Vertientes municipality.

Inside the sugar mill, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and Omar have a chat with the workers about the state of sugar production and the operation of the machinery, then they visited the Cruce de la Trocha Polytechnic and in the afternoon ended their itinerary on a poster of Boxing of the Playa Girón National Tournament, held at the Cándido González Stadium.

According to the journalist from Radio Cadena Agramonte, Pedro Panque Ruiz, who covered that visit, just by seeing Torrijos you realized that he was a statesman, a man who cared about his people.

José Rodríguez Barreras, director of the Office of the Historian of Camagüey city adds about that event:

“Apart from the fact that it was an event that a president visited the province, who was it? We must remember the Torrijos-Carter agreements, which returned the Panama Canal to his people and of course it was a joy that he visited us. I do not remember that Camagüey received another president from a friendly country like this. ”

The visit deserves to be remembered for its historical significance and the link between the two peoples, ties that will be remembered during this Conference on Cultural Diversity in Camagüey.

But Torrijos’ visit will not only be remembered on the day, but since 1976 it has been an important date for the workers of Panama sugar mill.

“Every January 13th in Panama sugar mill the visit is remembered as a rapprochement between the two countries, Cuba and Panama”, ensures Enrique Atiénzar Rivero, journalist for Adelante newspaper.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García