Brazil eases Cuba into free market economy

[Judi Lynn]

Brazil eases Cuba into free market economy
by Staff Writers
Rio De Janeiro (UPI) Feb 2, 2012

Brazil is easing Cuba into the free market economy with a generous package of aid in cash and kind and joint projects that give the Latin American country a pre-eminent position in Havana's heady mix of communism and experimental capitalism.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff appeared to be in the right place at the right time when she flew into Havana in a spirit of revolutionary camaraderie and clinched deals that secured Brazil's status as the senior partner in a long-term, multifaceted relationship.

Current bilateral trade exceeds $642 million a year.

In talks with Fidel Castro, his brother President Raul Castro and senior Communist Party leaders, Rousseff readily invoked her own revolutionary credentials as a former left-wing guerrilla fighter and chided the United States for continuing to operate its Guantanamo Bay prison.

More:
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Brazil_eases_Cuba_into_free_market_economy_999.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Brazil Deepens Strategic Cooperation with Cuba

Brazil Deepens Strategic Cooperation with Cuba
By Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Feb 2, 2012 (IPS) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's visit to Cuba served to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries, leverage the South American giant's investments in the Caribbean island, and deepen political ties.

On Feb. 1, Rousseff travelled to Haiti, where she was set to meet with government officials to discuss a number of issues, including migration and the reconstruction efforts underway since the devastating January 2010 earthquake. Brazil and Cuba are backing the establishment of a healthcare system in that impoverished Caribbean nation.

~snip~

In what was her first trip to Cuba, Rousseff judged as wrong "a blockade that denies a people access to food," in reference to the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, and said her government would be granting 350 million dollars in credit for food purchases from Brazil.

"We also agreed to finance the purchase of equipment, machinery, small tractors, and harvesters, with a 200 million (dollar) credit to boost food production in Cuba," Rousseff said, and insisted on a partnership between the two nations that will help the island's development and ensure better living conditions for its people.

More:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106635

[carla]

3. Muchas gracias, vecina!

This is how nations are supposed to act. Not like the USgov acts...

[dipsydoodle]

2. Brazil highlights its relations with Cuba

BRAZILIAN President Dilma Rousseff began the second day of her official visit to Cuba by honoring José Martí, Cuba’s national hero. Accompanied by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra, Rousseff placed a wreath at the foot of the monument in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución.

Speaking to the press, she emphasized that cooperation in various spheres, and specifically in the economic one, is the best way in which Brazil can combat the blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States.

She condemned the blockade policy, "which does not generate any benefits," and stated that her government is committed to helping the economic updating process in which Cuba is immersed.

Rousseff commented on Brazilian participation in a number of Cuban initiatives through various funding programs which include technical equipment for food production.



http://www.granma.cu/ingles/cuba-i/2feb-dilma-marti.html

[Vidar]

4. Good for Brazil. That portion of the world needs to unite against the US cuttthroat capitalists.