A recognition of the heroism, solidarity and dedication shown by workers and combatants involved in the work related to the unfortunate event of the Hotel Saratoga took place this Friday, in a meaningful and solemn act in which the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

Photo: @PresidenciaCuba/Twitter

Juventud Rebelde reports that the Cuban president, by Presidential Decree No. 442, awarded the 1st Class Olo Pantoja Medal "For bravery during the Service", to the Chief of the Fire Department, First Colonel Luis Carlos Guzmán Matos.

Likewise, Colonel Daniel Chávez Fujishiro, Second Chief of the Fire Department, and Lieutenant Colonel Alejandro Alfonso Álvarez, Chief of the Mayabeque Fire Department, received the 2nd Class Olo Pantoja Medal.

Similarly, another 145 workers, belonging to the National Unions of Education, Health, Defense Civilians, Industries, Construction and Transportation deserved the Labor Feat medal.

After greeting each of the winners, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said: "Cuba will always be grateful to them."

Diaz-Canel was accompanied at the ceremony by the President of the National Assembly of People's Power, Esteban Lazo Hernández, and the Secretary of Organization of the Party's Central Committee, Roberto Morales Ojeda, both members of the Political Bureau.

Also present was the member of the Political Bureau and General Secretary of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, who remembered the 46 people who died, many of them in his workplace.

The top union leader recalled that spontaneously and in just moments, the will to help materialized in hundreds of heroic acts to help the victims, the girls and boys from the nearby school and how many people needed it.

He also mentioned those who collaborated in the preservation of order and security; to begin to compensate for the consequences as soon as the last pieces of debris had fallen, aware that this meant risks to their own lives.

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