Havana (VNA) – The Vietnamese Embassy in Cubaand the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) held a ceremonyin Havana on February 9 to mark 50 years since Vietnam’s General Offensive andUprising in the spring of 1968.

The offensive began in the early morning ofJanuary 31, 1968 when liberation forces simultaneously launched attacks on basesof the US troops and the US-backed South Vietnam government in cities such asHue, Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Saigon, and hundreds of towns from Quang Tri to CaMau.

The military campaign destroyed huge amounts offacilities and logistics used by the US and the southern regime’s armies.People in rural areas also took this opportunity to rise up against theUS-backed administration.

The offensive marked a strategic turning pointfor the resistance war against the US and its allies. It caused the US a‘sudden shock’, disrupted their strategic plan, shook the White House, thePentagon and all of the US, and forced then US President Johnson to deescalatethe war and agree to sign the historic Paris Peace Accord. The victory alsohelped lead to the liberation of southern Vietnam and the nationalreunification in 1975.

Addressing hundreds of participants in theHavana ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Trung Thanh noted the valuablelessons of the offensive. He said the campaign highlighted Vietnamese people’s aspirationfor independence and freedom, the creativity in making guidelines and directingthe revolutionary struggle, the strength of the great national unity bloc, the resolveto fight and win, the daring to confront the world’s strongest war machine, andthe pure international solidarity.

He stressed that the 50th anniversary of theGeneral Offensive and Uprising coincides with the time Vietnam has attained anumber of major reform achievements. The country is facing new developmentopportunities as well as difficulties and challenges. The Vietnamese people arenow even more aware of the importance of the leadership of the Communist Partyof Vietnam and the resolve to fight and win in the struggle for nationalliberation and in peace and national development and protection.

ಞ[Photos on 1968 Spring Mau Than General Offensive and Uprising]

The diplomat also underscored the preciouscontribution by global friends, including Cuba. The Latin American nation wasone of the first countries to recognise the National Front for the Liberationof the South of Vietnam, open an embassy in the liberated region, and assign anambassador to the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the then Republic ofSouth Vietnam. 

Notably, then Cuban President Fidel Castro wasthe only foreign leader to cross the 17th parallel north to visit the liberatedregion in southern Vietnam in September 1973 during the wartime, Thanh added.

ICAP President Fernando Gonzalez Llort said the1968 General Offensive and Uprising marked a turning point and resounded aroundthe world, adding that lessons from history will be helpful for building thefuture.

At the ceremony, Dr Ruvisley Gonzalez from theCuban institute for international policy studies reviewed the key developmentsof the offensive, along with global reactions then. Meanwhile, veteranjournalist Marta Rojas recounted her memories of the southern battlefield ofVietnam and the war against the US of Vietnamese people.-VNA