On 29 June, feast day of Saints Peter and Paul, marked 30 years of Sant'Egidio's presence in Cuba. A few days later, on 2 July, the Community headquarters in Havana hosted the celebration of a thanksgiving liturgy, presided over by the Cardinal Archbishop of Havana, Juan de la Caridad García, with the presence of many priest and lay friends.
In 1992, in fact, while the last stages of the peace negotiations for Mozambique were taking place in Rome, Sant'Egidio took up the appeal that came from the paediatric hospital in Havana, Soler, in great economic difficulty, as was the whole island of Cuba in the 'special period' after the end of the Soviet Union. Sant'Egidio organised a plane load of medicines, accompanied by the young Don Matteo Zuppi - now Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna. He had the opportunity to meet a group of medicine students and tell them about the experience of the Community of Sant'Egidio. From that first meeting began the presence of Sant'Egidio on the island and today it reaches various cities and generations.
