Nicaragua Awards Cuba Culture Minister
Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto was granted the Ruben Dario Cultural Independence Order here, from the hands of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

"I receive this order as something that has to do with what Cuba has done for the cultural independence of our territory, Latin America, and the world," the official said when thanking the Sandinista government for its gesture.

The decoration took place Saturday in Monimbo, a native neighbourhood in Masaya, about 18.6 miles south of Managua, on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the region's uprising against the Somoza tyranny.

Prieto said in the act the distinction was also a recognition to the different Cuban cultural institutions and all the intellectuals on the Island.

Shortly after his arrival in Nicaragua yesterday, the minister visited the Las Brisas Power Plant, northwest of Managua, where he shared with Cuban experts putting in place the generators supplied by Venezuela.