U.S. "Second Lady" visits Cuba

Jill Biden, wife of the American Vice President Joe Biden, stressed the relevance of educational exchanges between the United States and Cuba.

Touring the Pedagogical University "Enrique Jose Varona" in Havana on Friday, Mrs. Biden spoke with heads of departments, teachers and leading academics of the centre, and expressed her interest in the training of educators in Cuba.

The American delegation stressed the importance of contacts between the two countries and, especially, of dialogue among colleagues in the education sector.

"Education is the key to a better future for you and your families," said Jill Biden.

She shared her views on the importance of being a teacher to a group of students and expressed interest in understanding their motivations for choosing the teaching profession.

Later she visited a pedagogy class at the Faculty of Early Childhood Education.

"I feel at home, because I am also a teacher. You never stop being a teacher," she said to the Cuban students and professors.

Deisy Fraga, rector of Pedagogical University, recognized this type of bilateral meeting as "favorable environment for the development of education in the two countries".

Biden arrived Thursday in Cuba in order to learn more about its culture, health and education.

As part of her agenda in the Caribbean island, Biden on Friday attended the first U.S.-Cuba friendly soccer match in 47 years, which concluded with an American victory 2-0.

She is scheduled to tour Old Havana, declared in 1982 a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and attend a concert of the feminine chamber orchestra Camerata Romeu in the Basilica of San Francisco de Asis.

Biden was accompanied by State Department officials responsible for educational and women's issues.

On Sunday, she will leave for the Dominican Republic, as announced by the White House on Sept. 27, to address the local authorities on bilateral issues related to culture, education, health and women.

Last June, Biden held another Latin American solo tour in Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina and Panama.

She is involved together with the U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama in various initiatives to benefit American war veterans and their families. Endit