People's Dispatch
September 20, 2023
Ahead of his address at the UN General Assembly, Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel payed tribute to Malcolm X in Harlem. The ceremony marked 63 years since the historic meeting between Malcolm X and former Cuban president Fidel Castro. Díaz-Canel remembered the invitation given by Malcolm X to Castro to stay in the Hotel Theresa in Harlem at a time when attempts were being made to boycott the Cuban delegation at the UN. Community leaders welcomed Díaz-Canel and the Cuban delegation and remarked on the importance of the shared ties between Cuba and the Black Liberation Struggle. Among those present were Malcolm X's daughter Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, Rosemari Mealy, Cuba's Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos de Cossio, and more.