Sunday January 26, 2025
Miguel Díaz Canel said in a recent post on his Twitter account that he has been in communication with the governments of Kenya and Somalia to find out about the Cuban doctors kidnapped since April by terrorist groups in that country.
“I held talks with the Presidents of Kenya and Somalia. We discussed the current state of bilateral relations and the efforts to ensure the safe return of doctors Assel Herrera and Landy Rodríguez to the homeland. We support their families #WeAreCuba,” Díaz Canel posted.
Doctors Landy Rodríguez and Assel Herrera Rodríguez were kidnapped on April 12 by a terrorist organization while they were on a mission in the African country.
In May, local media reported that The kidnappers were asking for 1.5 million dollars for the release of the Cubans, but the Kenyan government refused to pay and Cuba is not known to have acknowledged the claim.
Since then, there has been little information and no evidence of the well-being of the Cuban professionals, with the exception of occasional official publications from the island that assure that the efforts for their return “continue,” but nothing concrete is being made and each night is uncertain for these doctors.
On December 16, Inés María Chapman, vice president of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, assured that Herrera and Rodríguez “are well” and that “efforts continue for their safe return.”
Chapman’s remarks came during a national press briefing during the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Summit, which took place on 9 and 10 December in Nairobi.
“Kenyan authorities confirmed that both doctors are well and efforts will continue for their safe return,” the official said.
“Our people can be assured that the leadership of the Cuban Party and Government is paying constant attention to this issue, and our priority is for them to return safely to their homeland,” Chapman said, while stressing that the Cuban authorities “are constantly aware of the status of both doctors and are in contact with their families in Cuba.”
Herrera and Rodríguez are just two of the thousands of doctors exploited as labor by the Castro dictatorship.
