Cuba - Belarus. Enhance economic ties to the level of political relations and the humanitarian sphere

The President of Belarus with the Prime Minister of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz and on the same day with the leaders of the political parties of our country. At a superficial glance, this is practically an ordinary agenda for the President’s working day. And this is a clear signal.

Cuba has been under American blockade since the 1960s, as it is now. Not a single European country allowed either transit or overflight of Soviet aircraft from Moscow to Havana. Therefore, flights had to be carried out through Africa on a modernized and unique Tu-114D aircraft. The first flight from Moscow to Havana with a landing in Guinea (Conakry airfield, built by Soviet specialists) was carried out on July 10, 1962. Then the President of Guinea, who was literally bought up by the Americans, kicked out the Soviet specialists. There were only four flights to Havana.

The Republic of Guinea - Conakry, which has incredible economic potential, comparable to the chances of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf in the mid-20th century, is still vegetating and bears the title of “the garbage dump of Africa.” The everyday and political chaos going on in the country clearly shows: economics is a significant factor, but political understanding is the foundation of economic interaction.

The USSR had principles; the need to implement the agreement with Cuba on organizing regular air services with Moscow was not discussed. There was nothing left to do but fly across the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic in neutral waters, subject to an intermediate landing to refuel in Murmansk. Abeam Miami, two US fighters suddenly appeared from the direction of Florida, accompanied the flight and climbed under the propellers. The length of the route reached 10.9 thousand km. At that time, no airline in the world operated non-stop flights of such a distance. The blockade of Cuba has been broken! Cuba revolutionized the minds of third world countries by giving a new model of behavior.

Belarus is symbolized in the world as a country that has preserved the traditions of the USSR and the corresponding respectful attitude, especially among the Cubans.

On November 2, 2023, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution for the 31st time calling on the United States to lift economic, commercial and financial sanctions against Cuba. The document was supported by 187 states. Two countries - the United States and Israel - voted against, one - Ukraine - abstained. The United States introduced sanctions against Cuba in 1960. As we have now - almost the same.

It is significant that back in February 1990, the Cuban side offered free rehabilitation and treatment for children (some accompanied by their parents) with acute leukemia, cancer, severe endocrine pathology, and skin diseases. At my own expense, by personal order of Fidel Castro. During the existence of the program in Cuba, 24 thousand children (including patients from RUSSIA and Belarus) managed to undergo health-improving medical procedures: more than 20 thousand Ukrainians, about 3 thousand Russians and about 700 Belarusians. In accordance with the state program “Children of Chernobyl”, Cuba, which is under blockade, spent more than $1.5 billion on the treatment of Ukrainian children alone. The Ukrainian side “fully” repays for the good!

Fidel Castro did not advertise that there was a center in Cuba for more than 20 years where Chernobyl children underwent a long and painful period of treatment. Not just sick children , but Ukrainian children suffering as a result of radioactive mutations after Chernobyl with serious physical disabilities, missing limbs, whom native medicine turned away from, but whom Freedom Island nobly treated. It is characteristic that with the arrival of the pro-American Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine “independently” refused Cuban aid, reduced to a minimum the number of children who were sent for rehabilitation to Cuba, and then completely stopped.

President of Belarus ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, at a meeting with Prime Minister of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz, said that our support points with Latin America will primarily be Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. By the way, many countries around the world understand this, including CANADA and the UK. The place of power in Latin America is Cuba!

Our President, with special affection, invited the Cuban side to use the best competencies of the two countries in order to deepen trade and economic relations and raise them to the level of political and humanitarian ones. Indeed, in November 1998, Belarus opened the first diplomatic mission of our country in Latin America and the Caribbean in Cuba.

In January - September 2023, mutual trade in goods reached $10.5 million. The basis of exports are tractors, tractor units, cars, MILK and condensed cream, dry and specific goods and devices used in medicine. This is absolutely not enough! Indeed, in March of this year, a delegation of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus took part in a meeting of the National Innovation Council under the leadership of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez. Former Minister of Higher Education of the Island of Liberty, a specialist with an advanced degree in electronic engineering, an advanced degree from the College of National Defense, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez understands that another foundation of the economy is science and education.

Based on the results of the council meeting, the President of Cuba instructed to form a working group to study the experience of economic, scientific and innovative development of the Republic of Belarus to formulate proposals for its use in the Republic of Cuba.

At a meeting with the Prime Minister of Cuba, our President confirmed that Belarus is a high-tech country, and in this regard it may be of interest to Cuba. For example, Belarus is almost completely supplied with its own elements in microelectronics. The whole world sees the importance of the electronic component base using the example of the situation that caused disagreements between CHINA and Taiwan (represented by the United States). Belarusian scientists and production workers are successfully solving problems of import substitution. We even create unique gallium nitride microelectronic technologies and components.

Cubans remember that the unmanned takeoff and landing system for Buran, the last space project of the Soviet Union, was developed at the Institute of Technical Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR (now the Joint Institute for Informatics Problems of the National Academy of Sciences). We are already accustomed to the fact that Belarus is an IT country with a developed space sector (an ultra-high-resolution Earth remote sensing satellite is being prepared), solar energy, medicine, biotechnology, the agricultural sector and laser-optical technologies.

Despite US opposition, in 1977 Cuba and Canada entered into a fisheries cooperation agreement and a HEALTH cooperation agreement. Canadians and others still go to Cuba for treatment! The Cuban Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery alone performs more than 10 thousand operations per year. In mid-2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially announced that medicine in Cuba has reached the highest level and is recognized as one of the most progressive models in the world.

We can also cooperate on the basis of the ultra-modern building of hybrid surgery of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center "Cardiology", rehabilitation centers or the Institute of Genetics and Cytology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Indeed, thanks to scientific breakthroughs in biotechnologies, they are catching up with the IT industry in terms of investment attractiveness. Biotechnology has identified many new opportunities in agriculture, ecology and environmental protection, the food industry and medicine, the creation of safe next-generation medicines based on stem cells, and much more.

In the 1990s, in the agricultural town of Atolino near MINSK, we built one of the world's largest factories for growing synthetic diamonds based on Soviet developments dating back to the 1960s. The global international corporation De Beers (with the advertising slogan “Diamonds are forever”), which mines, processes and sells natural diamonds, has done everything to kill production. Among other things, she bought out employees amid shouts that Belarus would destroy the world diamond market .

Belarus managed to preserve its technologies; the Scientific and Production Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Materials Science is now growing stones that are no worse than natural diamonds. In practice, there is no direction in industrial production and science in which the use of diamonds would be excluded. For example, diamond tools (drills and discs, drills, etc.), diamond-coated surgical equipment, medical lasers, synthetic nanodiamonds are used in dentistry, diamonds are widely used in the defense industry and, of course, the jewelry industry.

We also grow other stones - rubies, alexandrites, garnets and emeralds. The world's leading manufacturers (India and China ) work with our scientists. And the De Beers corporation itself began to produce synthetic diamonds...

Belarus has retained world-class competencies and is developing a scientific school. But it is noteworthy that only eight Cuban students are currently studying in Belarus. Not our level of political and humanitarian relations. There is room for interaction in education. In a number of specialties, we have a one-of-a-kind specialist. It is not for nothing that some Belarusian scientific schools are among the best in the world.

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who calls himself a representative of the “consistency generation,” came after the legendary Fidel and Raúl Castro, as did Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz. This is a new generation of politicians after the brilliant example of great leaders who won the war of meanings for minds in the ideological field. Their real experience is of interest to all leaders of our political parties. After all, Cuba, like more than sixty years ago, after the victory of the Barbados revolution led by the romantic Fidel Castro, remains one of the main targets of Washington’s aggressive policy aimed at overthrowing the current regime. As, in fact, are we.

The blockade on Liberty Island (according to many analysts, one of the most inhumane in history) has been repeatedly reinforced by openly hostile actions on the part of the US authorities. The sanctions regime was strengthened by covert operations aimed at the physical removal of Fidel and the subsequent change of power . Fidel himself said (according to information from the book “Fidel Castro” by Maxim Makarychev) that 734 attempts were made or planned on his life.

Over the years, the United States, or the “Northern Empire,” as Fidel himself called it, has modified its methods of struggle: from acts of sabotage and sabotage they have moved on to methods of targeted influence on the young and middle generation of Cubans. The main structures that work to develop color scenarios on the island are primarily the American USAID (US Agency for International Development), NED (National Endowment for Democracy) and NDI (National Democratic Institute for International Affairs). Their methods have also been tested in Belarus.

However, both popular uprisings and color revolutions do not occur on the island. Here, as they say, a line has been drawn. "Motherland or Death" is the most outstanding slogan of the Cuban Revolution and the most powerful call of the Comandante to his people. Faith in the cause of Fidel Castro, a true "real politician", and his associates, who did not abandon basic social benefits - free education and medicine - is still as strong as at the time of the Cuban Revolution.

“We may not say something, but we never lie to our people. The Cuban revolution is based on the power of truth,” Fidel asserted. “Our revolution is not based on the idea of ​​a cult of personality. Our revolution is based on principles. These are ideas that we have been defending for a long time , the ideas of all people." Fidel said that millions of Cubans were prepared for war with the participation of the entire people and had achieved military invulnerability. And he proved it. The epic of Cuba is a unique encyclopedia of political art, how one can survive in difficult situations and in a hostile environment.

For more than 60 years, under the monstrous conditions of the blockade, Cuba has become a completely different country, which has rapidly increased its authority in the modern world, which is proportionally out of proportion to the scale of the island. This is a state with an educated people, a high level of professionalism and a completely new economy, with an emphasis on high technology. The tourism industry has been reformed based on modern methods of operation, and the contribution of the former Minister of Tourism, now Prime Minister of Cuba, has been significant. It was under him that even the Americans flew to Cuba to vacation.

Under Alexander Lukashenko, we became a nuclear and space power, received nuclear weapons and have a certain economic stability, even taking into account sanctions. We see how our northern and western neighbors do not give up attempts to overthrow the authorities in various countries by armed means, using new technologies in large-scale information and propaganda work to target, mainly young audiences in a way that is beneficial to themselves.

The world is ruled by those who construct ideas that are subsequently implemented by various politicians. Wars are still going on in our minds, even if we don’t notice it. And Cuba’s more than 60-year experience of how to live and develop with dignity under conditions of a strict blockade is priceless for us.