Cuban delegation to the Central American and Caribbean Games flag bearer Díaz-Canel

Havana, June 17 (RHC)-- Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, today flagged off the Cuban delegation that will participate in the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games, from June 23 to July 8.

The Olympic and world champion Julio César La Cruz (boxing) and Idalis Ortiz (judo) received in the Portocarrero hall of the Palace of the Revolution of this capital, the national ensign that will accompany the more than 500 athletes who will participate in 365 events in the capital of El Salvador and in the Dominican Republic, sub venue of the Games.

Grequista Luis Alberto Orta, Olympic and Central American champion; and sofball player Yilian Rondón, Central American runner-up, Pan American bronze medalist and winner of the V ALBA Games, escorted the flag bearers in a ceremony held at the Portocarrero Hall of the Palace of the Revolution.

Díaz-Canel Bermúdez greeted the athletes present and highlighted the effort made in preparation for the oldest regional multisport event in the world.

He also expressed his joy at being with them this morning and noted that for many it will be the first experience of its kind, since only a little more than a hundred athletes repeat in Central American and Caribbean Games.

In a year of unprecedented challenges for the revolutionary sport, given the coincidence of several multidisciplinary events and their qualifying processes, we are pleased that the work deployed for the Games has generated balances that are registered as successes prior to the start of the competition, said Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, deputy prime minister of Cuba.

He detailed that in the midst of the current conditions of the country, hit by the intensification of the criminal blockade of the United States and the impacts of the global economic crisis, it deserves recognition that on a day like today, the 118th anniversary of the physical disappearance of Generalissimo Máximo Gómez, the delegation is flag bearer.

This expresses the reserves available in a training system within the reach of all, fruit of Fidel Castro's thinking and leadership, he added.

It also stimulates, beyond purposes and possibilities, a spirit of victory - he said -, which will allow them to battle until the last moment in each outing, as an exponent of a sport characterized by the values, loyalty and respect of millions of Cubans from the island and other parts of the world.

Yarisleidis Cirilo, canoeing world champion and youngest deputy to the Cuban Parliament, read out the delegation's commitment and assured that the Cubans will compete in the name of a heroic people, deserving of all the athletes' dedication, sacrifice and dignity.