We can't miss the truly historic visit to Moscow that took place this week. With his first official visit outside of the New World, the new leader of Cuba came to visit Putin in Russia. Today, we'll have an inside look at how the visit was prepared. We've been following the work of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Committee in Havana since the beginning of the week, trying to figure out why our countries are becoming closer again.
But first, the coordinate system. One popular Cuban song compares the outline of the island to a caiman, a crocodile a slumbering crocodile, to be more specific. Well, the crocodile decided to slumber in a strategically important pool, the Caribbean Sea, 90 miles away from the USA. The way the US foolishly neglected the caiman in the 1960s can only be compared to how we did the same in the 1990s. Now, the caiman is being catered for by the others. The volume of Russia's trade with Cuba is not just less than China's but also Italy's, Spain's, Mexico's, and even Panama's. However, the first destination outside of the New World was Russia.
A curious detail: it might be the first and the last visit to Russia by President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers Diaz-Canel Bermudez in this position. The thing is, Havana has published a draft of a new constitution which restores the separate offices of Prime Minister and President of the Republic. Next year, when Putin will respond to the invitation to Havana Diaz-Canel will welcome him in the status of the president. Obviously, it's something more than just polishing the constitutional system. It's an attempt to add new dynamics to the system of administration which applies to foreign relations as well.
But first, let's hear what the leaders said to each other at the meeting.
Vladimir Putin: "To begin, I would like to ask you to convey my best wishes and greetings to Comrade Raul Castro. The relationship between Russia and Cuba have been developing for decades and since the very beginning, they've had a special strategic nature. We are united by friendship, mutual support, and assistance".
Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of Cuba: "I've brought a brotherly hello from Raul Castro. This visit is crucially important to us. The level of our relationship is quite high, especially in politics".
Among those who were close to Putin, let's stop on Yuri Borisov the new Deputy Prime Minister primarily responsible for defense who was appointed the co-chair of the Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Committee. We'll come back to him shortly. Following the footsteps of his predecessor Raul Castro, Diaz-Canel also met with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill, whose first meeting with Pope Francis was held in Cuba.
But back to our coordinate system. In case some of you have forgotten (which seems impossible) until recently, Cuba was associated with the Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul. And speaking of Fidel one can have their own opinion of him but first and foremost, he was never defeated, a rare case in politics. Secondly, thanks to Fidel's legacy Cuba was the first to express its solidarity with Russia when it came to the sanctions by the USA which the Cubans are quite familiar with.
This action deserves a special thanks. Cuba is an asset worth investing in. But how? How can we establish relations with the country that has a political system which we left behind decades ago? Raul Castro, to whom Putin sent his hello, let the new president rule the state and the government but remained the First Secretary of the Communist Party.
The draft of the new constitution for Cuba restores the office of the President but doesn't take away the power of the Communist Party. However, over the last years, there's been a special party group which has been studying our negative experience with stagnation turning into perestroika and perestroika turning into collapse. Since recently, the party hasn't been responsible for the economy with ideology being its sole domain. But which ideology? On one hand, even the new constitution has direct references to Marx, Engels, and Lenin. On the other hand, in one of his recent speeches, Raul called "the strategic weapon" the party that was created as a national movement.
The new Cuban constitution mentions Jose Marti as an example for all people. Who's that, you might ask. Everyone in Russia heard at least one of his works. The lyrics of the famous Cuban ballad "Guantanamera" were written by Jose Marti the brilliant poet, sometimes called the Apostle of Cuban Independence. He died in battle against the Spanish colonialists back in 1895. Since then, the Marti memorial has been a place of attraction for all Cubans who share the ideals of independence in the brotherly alliance with those who also believe in independence and self-respect.
With the Havana Colegio where Marti used to study as a kid, we'll begin our story about where Cuba is moving these days and what its new relationship with the new Russia will be like. We met the Cuban Communist first-graders called moncadistas who wear blue ties during their morning snack. Naturally, the kids didn't care about geopolitics but they really liked the writing tools brought to them by the members of the Russia-Cuba Friendship Society. Since I was the only one speaking Spanish I was specifically asked to show the kids where Russia is on the map.
“Look, kids, down there is Antarctica. It's cold and penguins live there. But there's another cold place where people live. See that señor in red and a beautiful cathedral? That's where we live. The Russian gifts traveled over half the world to end up here, in Havana.”
The other classroom with 19th-century desks where Jose Marti used to study is occupied by older kids wearing red ties. They also really liked the gifts from the Russian Roscongress Fund. The principle was the only one who understood Russian without any translation. She studied in those days.
- So you speak Russian, right?
Mariluz Baldoveso, principle: I do.
The daily show Russian on Radio was broadcasted in Havana in the times when Cuba imported almost everything from Russia to compensate for the US embargo from the Moskvich cars called Moskovich here to the Neva razors and, of course, massive amounts of arms. The older generation must remember Playa Giron and the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Once again, Havana and Moscow have found each other in the political arena. But will the new Russian shipments be free as it was before?
- You probably imagine the reaction of our people who remember the era of free shipments when the non-chernozem areas were dying but the USSR spent a million dollars per day to send tankers to Cuba. How can we put it on a more commercial track to make it mutually beneficial?
Yuri Borisov, Deputy Prime Minister: In the current situation, the development of our trade and economic relations mustn't go to our detriment. It would be unwise and inappropriate we might repeat the vicious experience of the USSR. Helping Cuba and other countries we never miss out on opportunities to profit.
Borisov invited us to the place that used to be closed even to Cuban television. The Cuban defense industry facility in Managua is where they assemble the military Urals. The workers of the restricted access facility are naturally reserved.
- Do they import all of that from Russia?
- Did you study in Russia or here?
All this is based on a unique agreement that Russia recently signed with Cuba, and should sign with other countries whose debt to the USSR is clearly gone, but Russia can still agree upon privileged access to the local market for its exporters.
Yuri Borisov: Cuba used to owe about $35 billion to the USSR. In 2013, we signed an agreement canceling 90% of the debt. The 10% was supposed to be accumulated in special accounts.
- You mean the payments?
- Yes, the Cuban payments. The condition was that they would be reinvested in the Cuban economy.
- Reinvested by placing orders in Russia?
- Correct.
The Russian specialist in the next shop confirms that the Cubans are serious about their work.
- You know those jokes about the Cubans that they dance more than they work?
- Nah, they are pretty hard-working.
The civilians products of the Russian automotive industry are also assembled here: GAZels and GAZons from Nizhny Novgorod.
Yuri Borisov: We'll be supplying only vehicle kits. The localization will increase every year by creating new jobs and generating more taxes for Cuba.
- And what do we get?
- We get more orders for our GAZ facilities. Moreover, we'll be able to export our vehicles to the countries neighboring Cuba and get paid in hard currency.
- That's what I'm talking about. So there's money in it?
- Of course. Those are long chains.
How will that work? First, the Russian signs are back.
- One question: All of the signs are in Russian, do you speak Russian?
- No, but we look at the numbers.
- Oh, the numbers. And here, it's all in Spanish, right?
- Right.
Secondly, we might be wrong in thinking that socialist Cuba might be our springboard to the rest of Latin America. But then, why did the Havana International Fair held earlier this week feature dozens of countries that have no historic ties to Cuba but still try to cozy up to it.
By the way, a brand new development was announced on the sidelines of the Fair. A group of Russian private investors bought a nickel deposit in neighboring Guatemala. The ore will be processed in a facility named after Che Guevara located in Moa, Cuba. We built the facility in the times of Gorbachev and then abandoned it. Now, the investors from the new Russia plan to resurrect it.
Sergey Steshenko, CEO of Tekhtsvetmet: If we sum up all the aspects the only obvious response to the Russian investments would be giving us the majority ownership. The negotiations are…
- Rather stressful?
- Indeed.
Why are the negotiations stressful? Isn't Cuba, where the financial situation is still extremely tense, supposed to heartily welcome all investors, especially Russians? The Cubans have a lot to learn and not the way Lenin bequeathed it.
- How ready are the Cubans to invest their own money?
Yuri Borisov: The negotiations have been stressful. They are reluctant to part with their money. I won't hide it, their old mentality is still there. They always negotiate from the position that they are the vanguard of the world revolution and that everybody must help them for free.
Still, many countries are trying to cozy up to Cuba. It has a couple of cards up its sleeve. Remember our visit to the school of Jose Marti where the principle spoke Russian.
- I'm actually 54.
- What, really? You are living proof of the professionalism of the Cuban doctors.
Back then, the son of Fidel Castro showed us the wonders of the Cuban pharmacology. Unfortunately, he tragically died, but his work lives on.
Eduardo Martinez Diaz, President of BioCubaFarma:
- For example, we developed a medicine that allows diabetic patients to avoid amputation. It's a unique medicine that allows avoiding the amputation of limbs.
- It's a pity that my grandma didn't have that. She died from diabetes.
- Yes.
Now, the medicine is to be clinically tested in Russia. But here are some projects that are already awing.
- What did you bring to Cuba?
Eduard Vaino, PAO Avtovaz: "We came back as Avtovaz. We haven't been here for a long time. You might've noticed many old Lada models on the streets. Last year, we signed a new contract to supply Lada Vesta taxis"/
Now, they are going to sign a contract to supply Lada Granta to the police and state institutions, but not just to them.
Eduard Vaino, PAO Avtovaz: "We plan to offer the automatic transmission model to tourism firms. There are plenty in Cuba".
The last year's increase of the flow in tourists from Russia was a record 67%, 75,000 people. There are things to look at and to restart here for the sake of both political strategy and economic benefits.
- How many jobs were created in Russia thanks to those projects with Cuba?
Yuri Borisov: Let's try to count... From the $290 million worth of goods, the Russian share is about $276 million. If we take the average annual output of 2 million rubles per person we get about 10,000 jobs.
- That's a lot. It seems that Cuba is entering a new era.
- We'll be gradually building our relationship based on the principles of mutual benefit and not some political victories or defeats.
- We shouldn't forget our truly glorious past.
- It was glorious indeed. We enjoy recalling those good times. It'll probably be the basis of our future relations.
Vesti on Saturday, Cuba.
Of course, Cuba is very interesting and promising but complicated. If you carry a camera watchful officers appear from nowhere. We called them vigilantes asking you for the permit to film even the most innocent things despite journalist visas, Foreign Ministry accreditation, and the expressed will to share positive things. This time, the apotheosis was when we were forbidden from filming on the outer stairs of the University of Havana.
But we managed to film many other interesting things together with Maria Bondareva whom you saw in the video. Soon, our mini-movie Russia and Cuba: No Visas will air on Rossiya 24.
