The minister’s arrival coincided with an important event in the life of Cuba: on April 19, the first meeting of the local parliament, the National Assembly of People’s Power, took place, during which the leader of Cuba, Miguel Diaz- Canel, was re-elected for a second presidential term.
From the capital’s main airport. José Marti, the procession of the Russian minister went directly to the historic center of the Cuban capital through more deserted streets than usual. And the fact is not at all that the path of the head of Russian diplomacy was cleared by the policemen of the special squad of the local traffic police who accompanied them on snow-white Suzuki motorcycles. The reason turned out to be much more prosaic: Cuba now faces an unprecedented fuel crisis at gas stations across the country due to the notorious US blockade of Liberty Island. A failure in the supply of a single fuel tanker and due to the restrictions imposed by the United States, it is not possible to quickly find a replacement: someone is afraid to sell gasoline , fearing secondary sanctions, someone’s services cannot be paid for due to banking restrictions… So most of the drivers that night just stayed home or waited in line in service stations.
Obviously, in this context, even if we ignore the close Soviet-Cuban friendship, our countries have something to talk about today: the condemnation and rejection of the sanctions policy of the United States and its allies has long been a subject of bilateral contacts between Russians and Cuban leaders at all levels. And hence the quite natural and logical demand on both sides for the formation of a fairer world order. In fact, this was also discussed the next day during Sergei Lavrov’s talks with his Cuban counterpart, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
Today, the Russian Minister’s working day began with a rather unusual natural phenomenon for Cuba: a storm with… hail struck Havana before dawn. Powerful gusts of wind sent ice falling from the sky into the hotel’s panoramic windows, waking up part of the delegation. However, the unusual natural phenomenon here ended as quickly as it had begun: already at 7 a.m. a much more familiar sun rose over the Cuban capital, which accompanied Sergei Lavrov at the ceremony of laying of wreaths at the monument to the hero of the struggle for Cuban independence, José Marti. From there, the minister went to the protocol room of the El Lagito government, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, located in the area of former luxurious estates, where Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez was waiting for him. .
A warm meeting, protocol photos, a few minutes for the obligatory morning coffee for the Cubans and the ministers together, followed by the members of the delegation, enter the negotiation room. The atmosphere is as friendly as possible and genuinely comradely: the heads of diplomatic departments call each other by their first names. In his welcome speech, Bruno Rodriguez thanked Moscow for its consistent and categorical condemnation of the US blockade of Cuba. Concrete support for the Island of Liberty during difficult times for the country in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the form of humanitarian aid regularly sent here from Russia.
“Cuba condemns unilateral sanctions and opposes Russia’s policy of isolation,” Rodriguez noted in full understanding of the situation before moving on to current issues on the international agenda. “We strongly condemn the expansion of NATO, which continues to the borders of Russia – this is the main cause of the current conflict in Europe. We will continue to advocate for a diplomatic solution to this crisis in Eastern Europe. a peaceful way that will guarantee the security and sovereignty of all, as well as peace, stability and international security”, – the head of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs succinctly outlined Havana’s position.
In response, Sergey Lavrov congratulated the Cuban friends on the successful holding of the founding session of the National Assembly and the re-election of President Miguel Diaz-Canel for a second term, which, among other things, is key to ensuring continuity. relations between Moscow and Havana.
“This is particularly important when tension escalates on the international scene, when the West’s attempts to dictate its will and ignore the legitimate positions of others not only persist, but also grow,” Lavrov said, recalling decades of US trade and economic blockade against Liberty Island.
“In recent decades, long before the current events, we have also been subject to sanctions, so we have absolutely the same record: we cannot accept that the world continues to live by these American rules,” the minister said. Russian. “These are rules that reflect the desire to continue colonial methods, to live off others and to eliminate competitors,” he concluded.
The head of Russian diplomacy also thanked the Cubans for “the clear position of the leaders of the republic and the full understanding in their assessments of the reasons that have led to the current situation”.
“I mean the reckless expansion of NATO to our borders, the total disregard for all our proposals to reach agreements on guaranteeing the security of the other, on the principles of the indivisibility of this And, of course, in addition to the accumulation of direct military threats to the security of the Russian Federation, we could not ignore the gross violation by the Kiev regime of the fundamental rights of millions of its citizens, who were, in fact, brought to the brink of extermination, not only in terms of their language, their traditions, their culture, their religion, but very often in terms of physical survival,” Lavrov stressed.
They also talked about joint plans for the future. “We will continue to work together in the international arena to mobilize countries that reject such a diktat to work together towards the formation of a multipolar world order in full accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, which contains one very important thing “The UN is based on the principle of respecting the sovereign equality of states. The fact that our Western colleagues do not do this and respect no one at all is obvious,” the Russian minister said.
Afterwards, negotiations continued behind closed doors, after which the two ministers boarded a dark green armored Jaguar together and headed to the Palace of the Revolution, a complex of government buildings that houses the central committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. , the Council of Ministers and the administration presidency. By the way, the Cuban government moved here in 1965 from the former presidential palace – the current Museum of the Revolution, near which Lavrov laid flowers at the monument to José Marti a few hours earlier. The Russian minister, on his first working day after his re-election as head of Cuba, is received by the President of the Republic, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Later, Lavrov was received by Cuba’s president, along with his longtime leader, and now a member of his parliament, Raul Castro, 91. It is significant that any meeting at which Raul Castro is present, the hosts first introduce him as the “leader of the Cuban revolution”, and only then they name all the rest of the audience. According to the tradition that developed on Liberty Island, the details of the negotiations with Castro are not made public. But the very fact of meeting the “comandante” and the photo of a warm handshake with him is a confirmation of the maximum benevolence of all Cuba towards the guest and the country he represents.
During the negotiations with the Cuban leadership, Lavrov discussed not only geostrategic issues, but also quite specific stages in bilateral relations between our countries. As the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said at a press conference afterwards, work on the terms of the Cuban debt restructuring is practically complete. In addition, work has already begun to reach an agreement on providing the Island of Freedom with a special loan for an additional supply of wheat from the Russian Federation. Lavrov also stressed the Foreign Ministry’s interest in developing air communication with Cuba, while noting that the decision is up to the airlines. We also discussed upcoming contacts between the leaders of the two countries. In a week and a half, State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin will visit Havana, and in mid-May the next meeting of the Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission will be held there. In turn, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz will attend a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council at the level of Prime Ministers in the first half of June, and then visit the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.
This dynamic Latin American tour of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry has come to an end. In three days, Sergei Lavrov visited four Latin American countries, each of which plays a special role not only in the life of the continent, but of the whole world. Warm greetings and constructive negotiations at the highest level, among others, make it clear that any attempt by the collective West to present Russia as an isolated country is doomed to failure. No matter how much Washington and the “subordinate” capitals wish, Moscow’s friends remain all over the world, even in a region as far from us as Latin America.
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