"A strong and admiring hug for Arnaldo Tamayo on his 84th birthday, which he reaches with a vitality that seems to have been gained on that journey to the cosmos which made him the first Latin American cosmonaut, a pride of Cuba and of all the world's poor," expressed the head of state.

Trailblazer in Latin American Space Exploration
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (Guantánamo, January 29, 1942) is a Cuban military officer, pilot, and astronaut who, in 1978, was selected to join the Intercosmos Program and moved to Star City in the Soviet Union to complete his training.

On September 18, 1980, he launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome alongside Soviet engineer Yuri Romanenko, thereby becoming the first Cuban to ascend into outer space.

Tamayo Méndez, also the first citizen of Latin America and Spanish-speaker to undertake such a mission, is a Hero of the Republic of Cuba.