Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev payed an official visit to Cuba last week to demonstrate his country’s support to this Caribbean island, a diplomatic gesture seen as a response to the growing hostility that U.S. President Donald Trump has been displaying towards the Cuban revolution over the last year. Medvedev’s visit is the highest profile Russian tour since that of President Vladimir Putin in 2014.
At the time that Trump Administration has reinforced the sanctions to Cuba like never before, Moscow has been working to strengthen its commercial, scientific, political and military cooperation with Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, three countries which Trump often describes as “the troika of tyranny” in Latin America.
According to international relations experts, the Russian support for Havana is currently much greater than the cooperation the former Soviet Union offered to this Caribbean country decades ago. This support has been well appreciated by the Cuban people mainly in moments when their country’s economy manages to grow in the middle of the U.S. blockade
Upon his arrival at Havana’s Jose Martí International airport on Thursday, Medvedev was received by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and lately was officially welcomed by President Miguel Diaz-Canel at the Palace of the Revolution in a ceremony that included military honors at the State Council headquarters. The highest Russian official also honored the Cuban National Hero, José Martí, at the emblematic Revolution Square of this capital.
Both leaders expressed satisfaction with the excellent state of the bilateral relations and ratified their willingness to work for their continued strengthening. The prime minister stressed that Moscow will continue to support Cuba in all sphere and the Russian State will support the business community of that country interested in investing in the island.
Just after the official talks they attended a signing ceremony of 8th important bilateral agreements on the scientific-technical and customs cooperation. Russia and Cuba signed deals for Russia to finance projects to maintain the airplanes in Cuba’s fleet produced by this European country and other relating to the upgrading of a metallurgic factory. Those deals are worth around 21 million euros ($23.07 million) and 33.8 million euros, respectively, according to the Russian Export Center.
Medvedev and Diaz-Canel signed other deals on upgrading Cuba’s railways, cooperating more in science and technology and creating an irradiation center on the island. The countries did not release details on these agreements.
Russian exports to Cuba are more than doubled in 2017 and rose to $440 million last year, according to official Cuban data. While that remains less than a third of Spanish, Chinese or Venezuelan exports to Cuba, it looks set to continue rising. Those exports include hundreds of cars and minibuses as well as dozens of locomotives that have helped Cuba battle a severe shortage of public transport.
After holding official talks with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Medvedev told reporters “The U.S. desire to create a toxic atmosphere around cooperation with the island, to scare off investors and create an energetic blockade is obvious, but Cuba’s experience resisting the blockade for nearly 60 years shows that this policy will fail.” At the same time expressed Russian’s willingness to strengthen strategic cooperation.
As a part of his intense agenda, the Russian Prime minister also met with former President and General Raul Castro Ruz, now heading the Cuban Communist Party. Medvedev also received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in Political Science from the University of Havana.
Before concluding his stay in Havana, he also attended the implementation of a secondary oil recovery project in western Mayabeque province, about 43 kilometers south of Havana.
The expressions of Russian solidarity with Cuba are not recent. In 2014, besides forgiving US$31.5 billion of Cuba’s US$35 billion Soviet-era debt, Putin administration fostered new financing lines so that Russian companies can sell their products to the island.
Medvedev previously visited Cuba in 2008 and 2013, while President Vladimir Putin traveled here in 2014. (Periódico Digital Centroamericano y del Caribe)
