Cuba: This is what Miguel Díaz-Canel’s international tour left

For eleven days, the Cuban president traveled across Asian to strengthen relations with several countries

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel culminated his first tour through Europe and Asia. The diplomatic meetings began on November 1 and ended on November 12. One of the first countries that he visited was Russia, a state that has always been close to Cuba because of its ideologies. In his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin several agreements were consolidated.

Leer en español: Cuba: Lo que dejó la gira de Miguel Díaz-Canel por Asia

One of them is that Russia will help with the modernization of the railway service. It was also agreed that the island would allow the installation of Russian navigation satellite systems, as reported by El País of Spain. Likewise, the country approved a loan of 38 million euros for the acquisition of weapons manufactured in Russia.

On the other hand, Putin and Diaz-Canel took advantage of the visit to ask the United States not to abandon the nuclear arms treaty of short and long range, which has existed since 1987.

In recent days Trump announced his retirement, arguing that "Russia has violated the agreement. They have been violating it for many years." In addition to the foregoing, it was also requested that the United States lift the economic, commercial and financial embargoes it has on Cuba.

Strengthening ties

The next country in the president's tour was the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. During his visit, he established dialogues on "cooperation agreements in various sectors such as education, oil, agriculture, and trade, as well as diplomatic and cultural exchanges," as Telesur stated.

With this visit, Diaz-Canel reaffirmed the bonds of friendship that he has with one of the most repressive countries that exist today and that was how the North Korean media Rodong Sinmun explained it.

"The leaders of the two countries had a firm handshake of farewell and warm embraces, promising to keep their hands raised under the flag of socialism and to continue advancing in the socialist construction in the two countries by the only road to victory." Díaz-Canel also expressed the friendship ties through his social networks.

Support for the communist regime

After his visit to North Korea, Diaz-Canel traveled to the Republic of China where he met with Xi Jing Pi, who expressed "support for the Cuban communist regime," as El Comercio said. Thus, he affirmed that "China will strongly support Cuba in the defense of its national sovereignty and in the path of socialism with its national conditions."

It should be noted that Cuba was one of the first countries in the West to recognize China as a communist power. Likewise, "it is the first creditor of Cuba and one of its main commercial partners", as quoted by the same media.

A prolific visit to Vietnam

Upon their arrival in Vietnam, both presidents affirmed that "We share the same positive assessment on the development of cooperation between the two countries and our bilateral political ties have narrowed and are becoming more reliable due to the frequent exchanges of delegations and experiences," according to Granma.

However, the visit was more to strengthen bonds of friendship and to consolidate them since, according to El Siglo, "Political trust, brotherhood and solidarity have always characterized the links between the two peoples, parties and governments, a reality that, as it was ratified during the exchange, will continue to characterize the historical links in the future."

The last stop

Laos was the country that closed the first Asian tour of the Cuban president. Diaz-Canel met with his equal, Bounnhang Vorachith, to sign agreements that encourage economic and sports cooperation.

As for the economy, a "memorandum of understanding on the cooperation between the LPDR Bank and the Central Bank of Cuba, was also signed according to the chancellery of Cuba." Thus, that is how the eleven-day tour of the Cuban president in Asia concluded.

However, on his return he traveled to the United Kingdom to talk about the current situation of the two countries, recognizing that the United Kingdom had strongly supported the Cuban Revolution. He also stressed that relations with that country could be improved if the blockade imposed by the United States were withdrawn.

What drove the visit?

The tour, organized in a very short time, had as objective to obtain financing so that the island comes out afloat. It should be noted that in his tour he only visited those who had an ideology similar to that of Cuba, with the exception of the United Kingdom, to reaffirm the importance that communism still has in those few countries that execute it.

On the other hand, although he managed to strengthen friendships and create important ties with distant countries, he did not manage to create a financing that could give his country the economic relief that so badly needs.

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

Translated from "Cuba: Lo que dejó la gira de Miguel Díaz-Canel por Asia"

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