Intact memories of Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s visit to Quang Tri

Cuban leader Fidel Castro, PM Pham Van Dong and Quang Tri troops and people in September 1973 (Photo credit of Si So)

An impressive moment of Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Hill 241 (Photo credit of Si So)

Photographer Si So, aged 82, former Permanent Deputy Secretary General and President of the Arts Council of Literature and Arts Association of Quang Tri province, was lucky to accompany Cuban leader Fidel Castro during his visit to Quang Tri in September 1973. At that time, So was an official at Quang Tri Department of Culture and Information.

Accompanying the Cuban leader was the most important and emotional event in his career. To complete that special task, photographer Si So closely followed any actions, gestures, and expressions of the Cuban leader. He continuously took photographs to have the most photos of leader Fidel that held special meaning and artistic values. In 2022, his series of four photos, entitled “Fidel Castro - Quang Tri a historic day in 1973” was honored with the State Award for Literature and Arts.

Photographer Si So (left) looks at the photo book entitled “Fidel Castro - Quang Tri a historic day in 1973.”

Aged 88, Old Duong Tu Anh, the former secretary of Cam Lo district, recalled that he had an honor to meet with Cuban leader Fidel Castro in his visit to Quang Tri. The old official held that during the journey from Vinh Linh to Hill 241 in Cam Thanh commune, Cam Lo district, where a meeting was held, the Cuban leader always showed special affection, sharing, and deep sympathy for the loss and pain that Quang Tri troops and people were suffering.

There, Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivered an immortal statement “For Vietnam, Cuba is willing to devote its blood.” Old Tu Anh added that, during the visit, the Cuban leader expressed his admiration for the brave and resilient fighting and production spirit of Vietnamese people and believed in the victory of the revolution of Vietnam against the invaders.

Cuban Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro holds aloft the flag of Khe Sanh Unit of the Tri Thien - Hue Liberation Army. (Filed photo: VNA)

Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivers a speech at the meeting on Hill 241, in Cam Thanh commune, Cam Lo district, on September 15, 1973. (Photo credit of Si So)

Among Vietnamese people who had chances to meet Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Quang Tri was Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong. On September 15, 1973, Huong, aged 17, and three other Youth Union members of Vinh Thanh commune got injured due to a cluster bomb explosion when they were levelling a bomb crater on one end of Hien Luong Bridge to the North. She was the most heavily injured.

At that time, the convoy of Cuban leader Fidel Castro passing by on a pontoon bridge was ordered to stop. The Cuban leader got close to Huong, who was about to be unconscious from loss of blood, and asked Dr. Ariel Soler Munoz, a member of the delegation, to promptly give her first aid. After that, an automobile of the convoy drove Huong to Vinh Linh Hospital for emergency treatment. Knowing that the hospital ran out of blood reserves, Fidel ordered the convoy to transport blood from Dong Hoi, Quang Binh to the hospital to save Huong. The Cuban leader suggested driving Huong to Quang Binh and then flying her to Hanoi if the hospital was not able to treat her.

Old Duong Tu Anh shares his memories of President Fidel Castro’s visit to Quang Tri.

Returning home, Fidel Castro still kept attention to the injured girl in Quang Tri. Through a Cuban delegation to Vietnam, he sent her medicines, supplements, and a business card with patterns and a seal on which stood letters CMDTE. FIDEL CASTRO RUZ on the first line, and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba on the second line.

Huong is still alive. After the national reunification, she got married and she now lives in Dong Ha city, Quang Tri province. She touchingly said that “I could not have lived if President Fidel had not been there that day. I am grateful to President Fidel and Dr. Ariel Soler Munoz for my whole life. I consider President Fidel the person who gave me the second life, the life I have today, and my adoptive father.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong pays tribute to freshly-deceased President Fidel Castro at Cuban Embassy in Hanoi in 2016. (Photo credit of Nguyen Thi Huong)

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong carefully keeps memorabilia and images of President Fidel Castro.

In 2018, via the Cuban Embassy in Hanoi, Dr. Ariel Soler Munoz sent Huong a letter. In the letter, the Cuban doctor expressed his happiness when learning from an article and photos by Journalist Jose Llamos that Huong is alive, healthy, and has grandchildren. The doctor, now aged 88, wrote that he had thought of her over the past 45 years, asked himself about the state of her injury and whether she lived or not, because he knew that during a surgery doctors found 11 holes in her intestines. He shared his wish to host Huong in Cuba.

Good at sniping, directly engaging in more than 60 battles against the enemies between 1967 and 1972, Hoang Thi Cham, a guerrilla on the Southern bank of the Ben Hai River, was nine times awarded the title “Brave Warrior in Fighting U.S. Invaders.” Thanks to those feats-of-arms, Cham was honored to welcome President Fidel at Doc Mieu base – a location on the McNamara electronic anti-infiltration fence - where not long before, sniper Hoang Thi Cham had kept a close watch on every action of the enemy through the viewfinder of a K44 rifle. In that visit, Fidel Castro stopped to shake hands, talked to her and expressed his appreciation for Cham's heroic fighting spirit. He raised a question that how such a small female guerrilla could fight for such a long time. A little bit confused, she answered that “Dear comrade Fidel, my homeland is devastated by the enemy. Many of our relatives were killed, so I have to fight with greater strength and will to secure a victory.”

Cuban leader Fidel Castrol talks to sniper Hoang Thi Cham. (Photo credit of Si So)

Fidel Castro Park in Dong Ha city inaugurated in 2018 on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s visit to Quang Tri

Apart from aforementioned historical witnesses, there are many other Vietnamese people who had opportunities to meet Cuban leader Fidel Castro when he visited the “land of fire” of Quang Tri 50 years ago and surely, in their minds, memories of that time are still vivid.

Translated by Mai Huong