Cuba''s Culture Minister Rafael Bernal talked with Guatemalan officials from different spheres and 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Guatemalan Rigoberta Menchu, during a visit to this nation.

Menchu received the Cuban senior official at the headquarters of the Foundation that bears her name, and stated to him the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. government to Cuba, the embassy of the Caribbean island in this country informed.

The indigenous leader called for the immediate release of the Cuban prisoners in U.S. jails since 1998 (Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, and Fernando Gonzalez).

Bernal, who will attend today the opening of the Jose Marti Square, arrived in the Guatemalan capital on Tuesday, August 27, accompanied by Ana Maria Chongo, official of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Bernal also exchanged views with Deputy Culture and Sports Minister Leandro Yax,

regarding future collaborations on issues of culture houses, music schools, and ancestral heritage and sports restoration.

The talk with Lucy Lainfiesta, former Minister of Social Development, was focused on bilateral issues related to social development plans.

Bernal met with the Foreign Minister Fernando Carrera, who was accompanied by ambassador Karla Samayoa, general director of bilateral international relations.

Bernal also exchanged with former Culture and Sports Minister Hector Escobedo, and Interior Minister Carlos Menocal.

Cuba's ambassador to Guatemala, Roberto Blanco, and Chongo accompanied Bernal during the meetings, said the text of the Cuban embassy here.