Quito, September 19 (RHC-PL) -- Six Cuban heroes -- including the five anti-terrorist fighters who faced long sentences in U.S. prisons -- will visit Ecuador next week at the invitation of President Rafael Correa, a diplomatic source confirmed.

In statements to Prensa Latina, Cuban ambassador Jorge Rodriguez, said Colonel Orlando Cardoso, who spent almost 11 years imprisoned in Somalia after participating in the war in Ethiopia as an internationalist, and Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez will arrive in Quito on September 25th.

For us, it is a great honor to welcome our heroes here, said the diplomat, who said that visitors will have a tight agenda that includes their participation in the inauguration of the Latin American Progressive Meeting (ELAP 2015), on September 28th, in Quito.

They will also visit the province of Sucumbios, where they will see the environmental pollution caused by Chevron Oil Company in the Amazonian territory, and will meet with members of organizations of solidarity with Cuba, and local authorities.

The Cuban heroes will coincide in Ecuador with the head of International Relations Department of the Communist Party of Cuba, Jose Ramon Balaguer, who will head the delegation of the Caribbean island to ELAP 2015, which will bring together left organizations and movements from the continent.