Putin in Cuba, the first leg of his Latin American tour Russian President Vladimir Putin began Friday in Cuba a Latin American tour that will take him then in Argentina and Brazil, seeking support in its confrontation with the West over Ukraine. After sealing the normalization of relations between Moscow and Havana, through the cancellation of 90% of the huge debt of Cuba to the USSR, the Russian president will conclude his tour with a summit of BRIC (Brazil, Russia India, China, South Africa) on 15 and 16 July in Brazil. An ambitious and difficult diplomatic exercise to Kremlin strongman on a continent traditionally a preserve of Washington Moscow threatens new sanctions for its support to Ukrainian separatists. Before his departure, Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Cuban Prensa Latina news agency willingness of Russia to create solid alliances with Latin America and denounced the hypocrisy of the surveillance policy e United States, a sensitive subject in Latin America. The Russian President has chosen to begin his Latin American tour in Cuba to mark the normalization of relations with Moscow a country that the United States tries to isolate for over half a century, but now enjoys a strong diplomatic support of the Latin American continent. This standardization has gone through the cancellation of 90% of the Cuban debt to Moscow, a burden of $ 31 billion that Cuba had contracted at the time of its alignment with the USSR. And the balance of the debt (about $ 3.5 billion) to be repaid over 10 years and placed in special accounts to be reinvested by Russia to Cuba. With Cuba, Moscow is studying major projects in the fields of industry and high technology, energy, civil aviation, medicine and biopharmaceuticals, assured Vladimir Putin Prensa Latina. Russian President was received on his arrival in Havana by the number two of the Cuban Communist regime, Miguel Diaz-Canel. He would then meet with President Raul Castro and other leaders of the Cuban government to conclude some economic agreements. Among them, according to Russian and Cuban media, should be included in particular an agreement between the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Zarubezhneft and oil monopoly Cuban Cupet to develop research and oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Cooperation with Cuba is of strategic character and is oriented towards the long term, said Vladimir Putin Prensa Latina. The Russian president also had a long and very interesting conversation with the father of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, who has 88 years on August 13. The maintenance, about an hour, according to Vladimir Putin, focused on international issues and bilateral issues. Since he ceded power to his brother Raul in 2006 for health reasons, Fidel Castro is dedicated to writing and only receives rare foreign dignitaries. His public appearances are increasingly rare. Russia is currently the ninth largest trading partner of Cuba, behind Venezuela, China and Spain, the first three trading partners of the island. Havana has adopted in June a new law on foreign investment in order to attract much needed capital to an economic model inherited from the Soviet era. Despite overtures to the market economy, the economic takeoff is delayed. Cuban authorities have revised down last week to 1.4% growth expected in 2014, when they forecast a GDP growth of 2.2%. After his short visit to Havana, President Putin should be in Argentina on Saturday and Sunday to help Brazil to the World Cup final football match between Germany and Argentina, with the key to a possible meeting with Chancellor German Angela Merkel to discuss the Ukrainian problem. From Cuba, he made a brief surprise visit to Nicaragua, where he met President Daniel Ortega for an hour to discuss bilateral cooperation, does one official source in Managua.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 23:24:58 +0000
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