The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, today reiterated his rejection of the possibility of armed aggression against Cuba during a speech delivered at the National University’s headquarters in this capital.

The president, who visited the institution of higher learning to hand over Block A of the Faculty of Arts, also referred to the island’s scientific and cultural capabilities, stating that it deserves recognition and support for its transcendental achievements.

«If there is an artistic and cultural vanguard in Latin America, it’s called Cuba. If we look at the Covid era that we all suffered, the only society in Latin America and the Caribbean that was capable of developing a vaccine when it was needed (…) that saved, I don’t know how many lives, starting with Cuban lives, was Cuba,» he expressed before a largely young audience that applauded him.

The head of state also affirmed in his speech that «if a society, in the midst of the global crisis we experienced, was capable of producing an effective vaccine as quickly as needed, then that society, instead of being invaded and bombed, should be applauded and helped.»

The building handed over today by Petro, which will benefit more than 3,200 students, has 12,095 square metres, of which 7,958 correspond to built area and 4,137 to outdoor spaces and surrounding areas, according to a prior announcement from the Presidency.

It includes classrooms, workshops, specialised laboratories, an auditorium, creative spaces, autonomous study areas, welfare services and administrative offices.

During his speech, the president also highlighted the expansion of the public university, which for this semester will reach 400,000 new places, thereby raising higher education coverage from 54.9 per cent in 2022 to 59.7 per cent in 2026.

He stressed that during his administration, the National University received half a billion pesos (more than 134 million dollars at current exchange rates) for infrastructure, not counting the resources granted through the free tuition policy, which currently covers more than 92 per cent of undergraduate enrolment and benefits more than 43,000 students.

Added to this measure is the modification of Law 30, which guarantees that free tuition budgets are permanent and irreversible.

Petro stated in his intervention that only «knowledge is what saves us,» and it is what will make nations great.

«Knowledge plus computational capacity; this is what we have been working on,» he concluded.