Fidel Castro in Quang Tri: Cuba’s Embrace Amid the Flames of War

	Special Buses Launched in HCM City Commemorating Cuban Leader Fidel’s First Visit to Vietnam
	Vietnamese Craftsman Depicts Portrait of Fidel Castro Using Cuban National Tree

On the occasion of this historic anniversary, Cuba’s Granma newspaper published an article by author José Llamos Camejo, recounting that never had the streets of Hanoi seemed narrower than at noon on September 12, 1973, as the motorcade advanced. For more than two hours, the sidewalks turned into vibrant streams of people brimming with affection. Until that day, no foreign leader had ever been welcomed in Vietnam in a convertible car. Yet this time, it was done, because a friend from “the other side of the globe” had come to visit. It was an unprecedented event, fraught with risk. In Hanoi, American B-52s still routinely dropped bombs. Fidel knew this well, but danger did not deter him. Two days later, he would embark on an even more perilous journey: into the liberated zone of South Vietnam, at the height of the war.

Fidel Castro photographed with Prime Minister Pham Van Dong in Vinh Linh, 1973. Photo: VNA

According to the article, Fidel’s intention to visit the South dated back to 1970, when he told Cuba’s Ambassador to South Vietnam, Raúl Valdés Vivó, that he was willing to go, no matter how dangerous. On September 14, 1973, Fidel, together with Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, flew from Hanoi to Quang Binh and continued through areas devastated by bombing, where the war had claimed nearly three million Vietnamese lives and about 60,000 American soldiers. At Vinh Linh, Fidel was deeply moved, saying: “Only by coming here can one fully grasp the crimes committed by the imperialists... and truly see the heroic stature of the Vietnamese people.”

At Ben Hai Bridge, Dong Ha, Cam Lo, and the ruins of Carrol base, he expressed admiration, encouragement, and solidarity with the people, cadres, and soldiers.

The Granma article also recalled the poignant moment on September 16, 1973, in Quang Tri, when Fidel carried Pham Tung Thien, a child who had lost both arms to American bombs.

“(...) He held me tightly to his chest with one arm, caressing me as though I were his own son, or like a child back in his country whom he had long missed. He whispered gentle words I could not understand. I burst into tears,” Granma quoted Pham Tung Thien as remembering.

According to Granma, for Fidel, the trip was not only an expression of affection and admiration, but also an act of international duty: to be where US imperialism was being challenged, where the resilience of the Vietnamese people had become a source of inspiration for national liberation movements worldwide. In his farewell speech in Hanoi, he declared: “The world must be grateful to Vietnam. Through their resistance, the Vietnamese people have done something immense for humanity.”

Fidel Castro raising the indomitable battle flag adorned with the Medal of Honor of the Khe Sanh Regiment, Liberation Army of Tri Thien–Hue, September 1973. Photo: VNA

According to an article by Indira Ferrer Alonso published by the Cuban State News Agency (ACN) and cited by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), on September 15, 1973, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro crossed a pontoon bridge over the Ben Hai River to demonstrate the solidarity of the people of the Caribbean nation with the heroic people of Vietnam.

Together with Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, he waved the victory flag of the Khe Sanh Brigade of the Tri Thien-Hue Liberation Army and walked among the trenches, greeting each soldier.

His words to the crowd of fighters at Hill 241 resounded as an unshakable pledge: “For Vietnam, Cuba is ready to shed its own blood.”

That statement, still echoing more than half a century later, encapsulated the very essence of the friendship between the two peoples, forged through resistance, dignity, and internationalist spirit.

The ACN article also recalled the Committee for Solidarity with South Vietnam, founded by Fidel in 1963 under the leadership of heroine Melba Hernández, as lasting proof of Cuba’s steadfast commitment to providing political, moral, and material support to the Vietnamese people.

According to the article, although the visit lasted only six hours, it was enough to cement an eternal friendship. Fidel Castro’s visit to Quang Tri became a symbol of brotherhood between the two nations, bound together by shared ideals of peace, independence, and social justice.

Cuba and Vietnam continue to walk side by side, and leader Fidel Castro lives on in that eternal embrace, one that defied war and sowed the seeds of everlasting solidarity.

And as Fidel Castro himself declared that day in Vietnam: “Vietnam will be ten times more beautiful, as President Ho Chi Minh once dreamed. In that endeavor of nation-building, Cuba will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the Vietnamese people.”

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