Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka has been awarded Cuba’s national medal of honour known as the Haydee Santamaria Medal by Miguel Diaz-Canel, first secretary of the central committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Republic, on behalf of Cuba and at the proposal of the minister of culture.
Director of the Center for Literary Research of Casa de las Americas Jorge Fornet, in his remarks of praise, said that awarding Soyinka the medal that bears the name of that extraordinary woman is an act of justice that honours us.
After the ceremony held on August 23, Diaz-Canel held a meeting with Soyinka where he thanked her for his visit in such a complex moment for Cuba.
“It is the visit of a brother who has always been fighting for the most just causes,” the president noted.
The Haydee Santamaria Medal is conferred to national and foreign citizens and groups who, over the years, have shared the main objectives of the Casa: the enrichment, defense and integration of the genuine cultures of our region and the entire south.
This event also celebrates Soyinka’s 90th birthday and the 60th anniversary of his first visit to Cuba, where he has returned on several occasions.
The Nobel Laureate in Literature, who during the tribute had stated that “Cuba is also my home,” referred during the meeting to the strong ties that unite the island and Africa.
On Thursday, Soyinka was awarded Cuba’s Union of Writers and Artists’ Dulce María Loynaz International Prize at the union’s 63rd anniversary.
On receiving the prize from the president of UNEAC, Marta Bonet, Soyinka expressed his happiness and also his heart at being back in the bosom of a creative family.
He confessed to having had great political and cultural adventures in Cuba, recognising the indispensable role played by the Antillean nation in the liberation of the African continent, something that, according to the critic and essayist, we must not allow ourselves to forget, because Cuba has shown that both the pen and the weapons of liberation count in achieving the sovereignty and self-determination of our peoples.
Shortly before the award ceremony, theatre critic and theorist Omar Valiño described Soyinka in his eulogy as a “consistent man,” highlighting the sincerity and intelligence of his work, which draws on the ancestral wisdom of Yoruba culture.
