Quito, April 20 (RH-ACN)-- Cubans and Ecuadorians paid tribute Tuesday to three Cuban doctors who lost their lives in the huge quake that hit the South American nation last Saturday.

During a solemn ceremony, held at the Cuban embassy in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, participants recalled that at the time of the quake, the three Cuban victims, doctors Barbara Cruz (46), Leonardo Ortiz (53) and Eric Perez (41) were in Ecuador, offering their services as part of Cuba's health cooperation programs with the sister Latin American country.

Ecuadorian lawmaker Maria Augusta Calle, who heads the Solidarity-with-Cuba organization in Ecuador, extended the deepest sympathies to the relatives of the three Cuban doctors, to the people and  government of Cuba.

Cuban diplomat Juan Hernandez asserted that the more than 700 Cuban health specialists in Ecuador and the members of the  brigade that arrived recently from Cuba to assist quake victims, will continue to work with the same dedication and commitment as their diseased compatriots did.