CUBAN President Miguel Diaz-Canel was greeted by over a thousand Cuba solidarity campaigners in Lisbon on Saturday.

The socialist island’s leader is in Europe for an EU-Celac (Community of Latin American and Caribbean states) summit beginning on Monday.

His rapturous reception in Portugal comes after the European Parliament provoked strong criticism from Latin American countries with a resolution calling for sanctions on Mr Diaz-Canel and saying that “autocratic regimes” should not be allowed to participate in summits with the EU.

The insult to Celac provoked uproar in Cuba, with its Young Communist League leader Aylin Alvarez slamming MEPs as “lackeys of the empire.” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said Cuba would still participate in the summit “to strengthen dialogue and co-operation between Celac and the EU, based on equality and mutual respect.”

Communist MEPs Manu Pineda of Spain and Massimiliano Smeriglio of Italy also condemned the resolution, with Mr Pineda saying the European Parliament was increasingly “an instrument of the extreme right” and promising that Cuban delegates would be warmly welcomed in Brussels.

Trade unions, social justice activists and members of the Portuguese Communist Party thronged the HQ of left newspaper Voz del Operario (Workers’ Voice) to hear the Cuban leader.

Mr Diaz-Canel said Cuba would never “bow down” before aggressors and would continue on the path of socialist construction. He thanked solidarity activists across the world for their support for the Cuban revolution and its right to choose its own path.

Portuguese Communist Party leader Paulo Raimundo said that any solidarity shown with Cuba was more than matched by the Caribbean country’s contributions abroad, particularly its medical missions.