Kenya

Havana/Three days after the terrorist group Al Shabab spread the alleged death of the two Cuban doctors Assel Herrera Correa and Landy Rodríguez Hernández, kidnapped in Kenya in 2019, the Island’s Foreign Ministry reported This Tuesday, the president of the National Assembly, Esteban Lazo Hernández, traveled to the African country as a “special envoy” to investigate the “unconfirmed” death of the doctors.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lazo, who for years has been a trusted figure of the historic generation of the regime, was sent “to carry out urgent negotiations with the highest authorities of that country in the search for cooperation and clarification” of the death of the doctors, that Al Shabab spread last Saturday through the social network X.

The Foreign Ministry stated that “it gives absolute priority to the efforts that, by various means and by different international actors, are carried out in order to obtain the most objective information regarding the facts, until all the possibilities available are exhausted. allow us to confirm the situation of our compatriots”.

The Cuban Government’s statements come hours after it emerged that the United States is investigating whether it could have been an air attack carried out in Somalia against Al Shabab that killed the two health workers. The offensive referred to by Washington took place last Thursday near the town of Jilib, in the south of the African country.

In this regard, the Cuban regime announced in its statement that “official contacts have been initiated with the Government of Somalia in search of precision about the reported military operations” and that the Foreign Ministry “addressed the US Government through diplomatic channels on Sunday February 18 seeking clarification and still waiting for a response.”

Lazo was sent “to carry out urgent negotiations with the highest authorities of that country in the search for cooperation and clarification” of the deaths of the doctors.

“To date, there has been no public statement from the United States Government or its armed forces that confirms the news regarding the kidnapped Cuban collaborators or refutes what has been reported,” adds the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, specifying that “there is no has knowledge about the circumstances and characteristics of the “US” military operation and “whether it acted with the obligatory care to avoid collateral damage, protect civilians and innocents, and due respect for international humanitarian law.”

The terrorist group Al Shabab claimed that both doctors died during a US drone strike on February 15. It was the first time that the jihadists acknowledged holding the two Cubans hostage, after almost five years of having kidnapped them in northern Kenya.

After hearing the news, President Miguel Díaz-Canel tweeted that “as long as there is no official confirmation that they have died,” Cuba “does not lose hope” of finding the doctors alive.

The Cuban Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, maintained the same line, who a day later reiterated in a press conference, that the Island maintained “permanent communication with the Governments of Kenya and Somalia to confirm the status of the doctors” and also insisted that the sources of information are “unofficial” and that the news “has not been confirmed”.

Portal Miranda also assured that the families of the doctors “have had permanent support and constant attention from the Ministry of Public Health, the country’s highest leadership, and provincial and municipal authorities.”

Assel Herrera Correa and Landy Rodríguez Hernández were kidnapped in the Kenyan city of Mandera, bordering Somalia and a frequent target of jihadist attacks. On April 12, 2019, the two doctors were traveling, as was their custom, in a convoy to the Mandera hospital protected by armed escorts, when they were intercepted after a shootout in which one of the police officers who was ensuring their safety died.