Cuba honours Wole Soyinka

By Omolade Adegbuyi and Ologeh Joseph Chibu

Cuba, the Central American country has honoured Professor Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Laureate for Literature.

The Government of Cuba described him as a global icon.

Soyinka was conferred with National Medal of Honour in Havana, the Cuban capital.

The Haydee Santamaria Medal was bestowed on Soyinka at the Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, in August, this month.

In a statement issued by the Cuban presidency and made available to Irohinoodua, the Cuban President, Diaz-Canel said Soyinka’s visit to the country is “very significant, it is the visit of a brother who has always fought for just causes”.

He said the medal for Soyinka is an expression of many feelings for Cuba.

He said that the Haydee always harped on the importance of culture to revolution.

The President said
“With you, we share ideas, dreams, commitment to human improvement,” Diaz-Canel said.

Jorge Fornet, director of the Centre for Literary Research of Casa de las Americas, said awarding Soyinka the Haydee Santamaría Medal, which was previously conferred on the most outstanding figures of Latin American, Caribbean and other world intellectuals, “is an act of justice that honours us”.

The came at a time Soyinka was marking his 90th birthday and the 60th anniversary of his first visit to Cuba. Soyinka first visited Cuba in the 1960s when the young country just came out of revolutionary flavour led by Fidel Castro whose guerilla movement had overthrown the repressive Batisat government.

Cuba then marched forward with a Socialist economy that transformed the small Latin American country into a global power.

In his remarks, Soyinka spoke on the need to strengthen ties between Africa and Cuba.

He said the South American country is also his home.

“Our ties with Cuba are not limited to art and literature, but also to liberation,” Soyinka said.

“I grew up listening to Cuban music, in those days when there were gramophones, when there was no electricity.

“This has been a wonderful way to bring me back and remind me that Cuba is also my home. And it is proof that Yoruba is everywhere here, and that completes the spiritual aspect of people like me.”

The medal is awarded to Cuban and foreign groups and citizens who have contributed to making the objectives of the Casa de las Américas a reality.

The Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba also presented Soyinka with the Dulce María Loynaz International Prize.

Omar Valiño, a theatre critic and theorist, described Soyinka as a “consistent man”, saying his intellectual work draws on the ancestral wisdom of Yoruba culture.

Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986 and since them has been the most significant figure in African literary discourse.