Cuba honors Vietnamese journalist

The 90-year-old Au was honoured at a ceremony on February 13 to launch the Vietnamese - Spanish Dictionary compiled by himself, which is the first bilingual dictionary of this kind compiled and printed in Vietnam.

The Cuban Association of Journalists (UPEC) presents the Felix Elmusa Medal – the highest honour of the organisation - to journalist and translator Vu Van Au, a former staff of the Vietnam News Agency.

Vu Trung My, Vice General Director of the Americas Department of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, said his father has painstakingly compiled the dictionary since 2009 with the hope that the publication will be a useful tool for studying Spanish in Vietnam, and serve as a bridge between Spanish-speaking countries and Vietnam.

Journalist Walfredo Angulo, who was a reporter of Cuban news agency Prensa Latina in Indochina in 1983, recalled memories, support, and solidarity with colleagues from the VNA in particular and the Vietnamese people in general in difficult years.

The Vietnamese journalist was one of the first 23 Vietnamese cadres sent to study Spanish in Cuba in 1961 at the proposal of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro with Vietnamese leaders. In 1966, for the first time, he became the head of the VNA's office in Havana, where he continuously worked until 1973. He again held a similar position in 1992-1996.

Journalist and translator Vu Van Au anh his Vietnamese - Spanish Dictionary.

He was an interpreter for late Vietnamese and Cuban Presidents Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro and other leaders and famous people.

At present, Au still joins activities to promote the special friendship and close solidarity between the two nations, and the compilation and translation of numerous books.

Source: VNA