Cuban journalist - writer Marta Rojas (Photo: radiohc.cu)Staffmembers of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cuba also came to the event to pay tributeto the journalist, a close friend of Vietnam who had witnessed the country’sstruggle for national defence.
General RaúlCastro Ruz and President of Cuba and first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba sent wreaths to the event.
Theveteran journalist passed away of a heart attack on October 3.
Rojas,born in Santiago de Cuba on May 17, 1931, graduated from the University ofHavana.
She witnessed the attack on Moncada Barracks ledby Fidel Castro on July 26, 1953, and the trial held by Batista, the Cubandictatorship, against Fidel and his comrades, and narrated the events in herbook titled “The Moncada Trial.”
Following the success of the Cuban revolution in1959, Rojas worked for some revolutionary press agencies, and Granma dailysince it was founded in 1965.
Rojas was honoured with the Jose Marti NationalJournalism Prize in 1997, the 2006 Alejo Carpentier Novel Prize, and theNational Labour Hero title.
In its official announcement, Granma said Rojasworked as the first Cuban and Latin American war correspondent during Vietnam’sresistance war against the US. For a decade in Vietnam, she witnessed the US’sbombing on northern Vietnam and the struggle of guerrillas in Cu Chi in thesouth. She was also the last foreign journalist to interview President Ho ChiMinh.
Returning to Cuba, Rojas still activelyparticipated in campaigns and activities in support of Vietnam, as well as thesolidarity between the two countries. She often wrote articles on the SoutheastAsian nation published by Granma.
At 90, Rojas still worked as Vice President of theCuba-Vietnam Friendship Association. She also participated in a meeting betweenPresident Nguyen Xuan Phuc and representatives from the Cuban Institute of Friendshipwith Peoples (ICAP) and the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association, as part of theVietnamese leader’s visit to the Caribbean nation from September 18-20./.
VNA
