Hanoi: As Vietnam marks the 81st anniversary of its National Day on September 2, Jorge Gessaga, a 73-year-old former Argentine revolutionary, spoke to the Vietnam News Agency in Buenos Aires about his decades-long connection with Vietnam. The story began in the late 1960s and early 1970s when Jorge was 16 or 17 and growing up in Argentina under military dictatorship. Questions about his country’s future, social justice, and workers’ path to struggle prompted him to search for an ideal to pursue. From Argentina, the young Jorge of Italian, Spanish, and indigenous descent, followed Vietnam’s resistance against foreign intervention.
According to Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam’s steadfastness in defending its sovereignty became a defining lesson: a small nation could achieve what seemed impossible with strong belief and determination under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Vietnam transformed from a distant country into a symbol of courage and self-determination, contributing to Jorge’s decision to join the Workers’ Revolutionary Party and the People’s Revolutionary Army.