Uruguay's President Jose Mujica is on an official visit to Cuba, where he will hold talks with President Raul Castro.
During his stay in Havana, Mujica will pay tribute to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti and to Uruguayan hero Jose Gervasio Artigas. He will also meet with executives from the Cuban biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries, according to Prensa Latina news agency.
Havana and Montevideo re-established bilateral diplomatic relations in 2005. The two countries maintain exchange in the health sector. Over 45 Uruguayan patients received medical attention in Cuba as part of the free eye-surgery program known as Operation Miracle, a project launched years ago by Havana and Caracas to help poor people to recover from curable eye diseases.
On the other hand, some 300 Cubans have worked over the past few years in Uruguay, where 31 collaborators from the island are currently offering their services, particularly in eye-treatment hospitals.
At present, 236 Uruguayan youths are taking medical courses at Cuban universities, while 551 professionals from that sister Latin American nation graduated from Cuban education centers since 1961.
Uruguay has maintained a firm stance against the over-50-year U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba.