Cuban journalist Marta Rojas – Vietnam’s close friend passes away

Cuban journalist and writer Marta Rojas in a meeting with General Vo Nguyen Giap (File photo)

Hanoi (VNA) – Cubanjournalist and writer Marta Rojas, a close friend of Vietnam who had witnessedthe country’s struggle for national defence passed away on October 3.

The Union of Journalist of Cuba andGranma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, said on October4 that she died of a heart attack.

Rojas, born in Santiago de Cuba on May 17, 1931, graduated from theUniversity of Havana.

She witnessed the attack on MoncadaBarracks led by Fidel Castro on July 26, 1953, and the trial held by Batista,the Cuban dictatorship, against Fidel and his comrades, and narrated the eventsin her book titled “The Moncada Trial.”

Cuban journalist and writer Marta Rojas (Photo: chicagotribune.com)

Following the success of the Cubanrevolution in 1959, Rojas worked for somerevolutionary press agencies, and Granma daily since it was founded in 1965.

Rojas was honoured with the Jose Marti National Journalism Prize in1997, the 2006 Alejo Carpentier Novel Prize, and the National Labour Herotitle.

In its official announcement, Granmasaid Rojas worked as the first Cuban and LatinAmerican war correspondent during Vietnam’s resistance war against the US. Fora decade in Vietnam, she witnessed the US’s bombing on northern Vietnam and thestruggle of guerrillas in Cu Chi in the south. She was also the last foreignjournalist to interview President Ho Chi Minh.

Cuban journalist and writer Marta Rojas and leader Fidel Castro. (Photo: Asere)

Returning to Cuba,Rojas still actively participated in campaigns and activities in support ofVietnam, as well as the solidarity between the two countries. She often wrotearticles on the Southeast Asian nation published by Granma.

At 90, Rojas stillworked as Vice President of the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association. She alsoparticipated in a meeting between President Nguyen Xuan Phuc andrepresentatives from the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples (ICAP) andthe Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association, as part of the Vietnamese leader’s visitto the Caribbean nation from September 18-20./.

VNA