Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz awarded the Confucius Peace Prize 2014

Former Cuban Leader Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was on 9 December 2014 awarded the Confucius Peace Prize 2014 for his important contributions in eliminating nuclear war after his retirement.

He was selected from more than 20 nominees including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and two organizations.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz
• Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976.
• He became President of Cuba in 1976. However, he formally relinquished the presidency in February 2008 because of health problems.
• After his retirement, he has been actively meeting with leaders and groups from all over the world and has made important contributions to emphasizing the need to eliminate nuclear war.

Confucius Peace prize
• The Confucius Peace prize was established in 2009 as an eastern alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize following the proposal of Chinese businessman Lui Zhiqin.
• The award is in the form of a gold statuette and includes a cash prize of 15000 US dollars.
• It was created following the Norwegian Nobel committee’s decision to honor imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
• Confucius Peace Prize of China is equivalent to Nobel Peace Prize and was first awarded in 2010.
• Previous recipients of award are former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
• In 2013, Yi Cheng, who is the honorary head of the Buddhist Association of China, was awarded the Confucius Peace prize.