Putin, Cuban President Vow To Bolster Ties, Denounce U.S. 'Interference'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Radio Free Europe

November 02, 2018 18:23 GMT

The presidents of Russia and Cuba have vowed to strengthen political, economic, and military ties and denounced what they called U.S. "interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign nations."

In a joint statement following talks in Moscow on November 2, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Russia's Vladimir Putin also called for closer integration between Moscow and Latin American nations.

The visit comes at a time of heightened tensions for both nations with the United States.

U.S. officials continue to assail Havana for its alleged human rights violations, while Moscow and Washington have several contentious issues between them -- including accusations, denied by Moscow, of Russian interference in U.S. elections, Moscow's aggressive actions in Ukraine, and its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Diaz-Canel invited Putin to visit Cuba in 2019. He has twice traveled there, in 2000 and 2014, as part of efforts to revive relations with the communist island nation.

Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-cuban-president-vow-to-bolster-ties-denounce-u-s-interference-/29579666.html

[ck4829]

1. It seems as though lines are being drawn and Trump and Bolton are the pawns

[leftynyc]

2. Sounds like pootie is unhappy with donnie

Probably for not doing more to keep oil prices high which is the only way russia makes any money since the entire country is a craphole.

[Achilleaze]

3. The republican Draft-dodger-in-chief will totally cave on this

bending to the will of the kremlin.

The republicans continue to systematically weaken America.

Danger, Danger, Danger.

[cstanleytech]

8. He already is doing their will as the goal is to isolate the US and weaken it and its allies

as Putin has the long term goal of expanding Russias borders even more.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

4. This is what happens when policy panders to the worst RW elements of the Cuban "exile" diaspora

We were so close too.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Seems like the time to befriend Cuba and draw them away from communism

passed when Obama left office. What a shame.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

10. Draw them away with what? Insurance co death panels? 3 jobs for an apartment?

What would be nice is for Cuba to draw us away from corporate feudalism, so we could meet somewhere in the middle.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Clearly corporate media has been loathe to inform U.S. customers about those who come and go

between Cuba and the U.S. Sad, isn't it?

It's a good thing there are a few who don't mind mentioning it, like former NY Times journalist, Ann Louise Bardach. It's too bad there aren't enough citizens who have wondered why it is that Cuban "exiles" come and go from Cuba continually, have been doing it for decades, and U.S. Americans have been forbidden for decades, until President Obama loosened some of the restrictions for US citizens, before Trump started trying to slam the door closed again. Why would Cubans ever want to take the chance on going there if they are so terrified of that "brutal police state" where they eat Christians, etc.? Aren't they afraid they will be thrown in prison and tortured and then eaten all gone? Hell, no. They continue to come and go as they always have while US citizens can't, essentially. Why don't people ever wonder about that, and start investigating it? Why don't they try to find out? Why don't they even think about it? OMG.

~ ~ ~

From a book written by Anne Louise Bardach, a former journalist with the New York Times, who did a major series of articles on an interview with Luis Posada Carriles, one of the two masterminds (both celebrated as heroes by the right-wing reactionaries of the Cuban "exiles" in Miami) of the Cubana airliner mid-air bombing which murdered well over 70 people, including children in a Cuban fencing team;

In Cuba, one used to be either a revolucionario or a contrarevolucionario, while those who decided to leave were gusanos (worms) or escoria (scum). In Miami, the rhetoric has also been harsh. Exiles who do not endorse a confrontational policy with Cuba, seeking instead a negotiated settlement, have often been excoriated as traidores (traitors) and sometimes espías (spies). Cubans, notably cultural stars, who visit Miami but choose to return to their homeland have been routinely denounced. One either defects or is repudiated.

But there has been a slow but steady shift in the last decade-a nod to the clear majority of Cubans en exilio and on the island who crave family reunification. Since 1978, more than one million airline tickets have been sold for flights from Miami to Havana. Faced with the brisk and continuous traffic between Miami and Havana, hard-liners on both sides have opted to deny the new reality. Anomalies such as the phenomenon of reverse balseros, Cubans who, unable to adapt to the pressures and bustle of entrepreneurial Miami, return to the island, or gusañeros, expatriots who send a portion of their earnings home in exchange for unfettered travel back and forth to Cuba (the term is a curious Cuban hybrid of gusano and compañero, or comrade), are unacknowledged by both sides, as are those who live in semi-exilio, returning home to Cuba for long holidays.


Page XVIII
Preface
Cuba Confidential
Love and Vengeance
In Miami and Havana

Copyright© 2002 by
Ann Louise Bardach

Very glad to see your comments, Mike. Thank you.

[Mike Rows His Boat]

12. Was speaking to the constant clichs and stereotypes.

Cuba's Model of Development: Lessons for Global Education
https://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue/issue-13/cubas-model-development-lessons-global-education

CUBA: A COUNTRY PROFILE ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT (pdf)
https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1328_web.pdf

[sinkingfeeling]

13. I was thinking more about the Cuban government. There's lots of

resort development going on, mainly with Spanish investment that could be US instead. With the loosening of regulations on private business within Cuba, tourism will improve the average Cuban's lot.

Cuba is almost a reverse triangle of personal income and higher education than us. The highly educated (paid for by government), professionals are amongst the lowest paid (all govt.jobs) and those making the most are those in the restaurant and tourism industries. A doctor in Cuba makes around $60 a month, a lab tech I met got $20, but a tour guide makes $5-10 a day, per person on tour.

The people exist on this, on a more equal footing than here, because they get housing and healthcare and food. People within the government get better.

[elmac]

6. putin is playing the usa and nato like a cheap piano because

big money has corrupted our political systems to the point Democracy is just a pipe dream.

[Initech]

7. Putin is playing us like a fiddle. What a fucking POS.

[keithbvadu2]

9. Putin has no nasty nickname from Donald

Putin has no nasty nickname from Donald