HAVANA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- At the age of 87, Iraida Hernandez has found fame as a star in a documentary produced by China's Xinhua news agency on Cuba's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic despite a crippling trade embargo imposed by the United States.

Hernandez, who lives on the outskirts of Havana, turned on her television to watch "Fight or Perish: We will win! Heroism in times of pandemic," broadcast by Cuban Television.

"The important thing is not to be on television. To think like that would be banal. What really matters to me is to have contributed to the world learning what our people are doing to beat the coronavirus amid everything the United States is doing to us," Hernandez, a grandmother of eight children, told Xinhua.

Telling through the eyes of Chinese citizens living in Cuba, the documentary spotlights the challenges Cuba has faced in fighting the pandemic.

Cubans are familiar with a variety of Chinese programs, said Yanet Valdes, director of Multivision, one of the networks that aired the documentary.

But "Fight or Perish" was especially well received because "this particular material aims to look at our resistance and creativity," said Valdes.

What's more, it is an eloquent reflection of the friendship between the two countries, with this year marking 60 years of bilateral diplomatic ties, she said.

Luis Enrique Gonzalez, head of Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, told Xinhua that producing such programs was essential to combating the barrage of negative coverage often given to socialist countries such as China and Cuba in Western media.

"Prensa Latina and Xinhua maintain a constant communication to consolidate media collaboration against fake news and disinformation, especially in times of COVID-19," said Gonzalez.

"Documentaries such as this one, about our shared realities, must be at the center of audiovisual production by Prensa Latina and Xinhua, a field in which both agencies could expand cooperation," Gonzalez added.