Upon his arrival in the Cuban capital to participate in the tributes to the Cuban revolutionary, Mugabe said he was part of the mourning of the people of Cuba and expressed his deepest condolences.

‘Other communities and regions of Africa have also felt this loss, Fidel was not only your leader, but also ours,’ he said after being welcomed at the Jose Marti International Airport by the island’s Justice Minister, Maria Esther Reus.

‘We followed him and listened to him. I came here several times. I met with him and we talked about the struggles in Africa; that will endure forever between us,’ he added.

According to Mugabe, Fidel Castro was not only a man of words, but also of action. He said that during a visit to Zimbabwe he promised to help Zimbabwe by training young people in science.

The Zimbabwean president added that despite the unjust economic sanctions imposed on Cuba by the United States, the island started a program to train doctors from third world countries. These doctors are in our hospitals doing their work,’ he said.

According to Mugabe, the example set by the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution is the one that revolutionaries, anti-imperialists and anti-colonialists of the world should follow.