Via the BBC: Brazil leader to boost Cuban ties
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is in Havana for a 24-hour visit to strengthen economic ties with Cuba.
President Lula is expected to sign a series of trade and investment agreements with Communist-run Cuba, in defiance of the US economic embargo.
These include an extension of credit lines to allow Cuba to buy more food from Brazil, and investment in Cuba’s oil, transport
and tourism sectors.
This makes sense for Brazil, as it seeks to maintain a degree of regional hegemony and it is difficult to see the US doing anything other than making a little noise over this agreement. Not only is the US embargo of Cuba ridiculous on its face, it is more so now that the real target of that policy is old and bedridden. There is also some political cache for Brazil in moving now as in a way it shows some defiance of the US without creating a major confrontation. And for that matter, now is a good time to make agreements with Cuba, as they need the help and are likely to be receptive. Further, it allows Brazil to deepen ties now before the next evolution of the Cuban situation occurs.
Beyond that, as the story notes, Lula has a relationship with Cuba, including the fact that Castro shielded a number of Lula’s allies-in-exile during the two-decade military regime in Brazil.
Indeed, if Cuba had to follow a model for post-Castro Cuba, one would prefer that it look more like Lula’s experience with democratic, pragmatic leftism than Hugo Chávez’s personalistic and populistic version of governance.
As such, increased contact between Cuba and countries like Brazil is really in the US’s interest, even if folks in the State Department don’t see it that way, given that otherwise the only outside influence that the island will get in any significant amount is from Venezuela.
Sphere: Related Content
January 15th, 2024 at 8:49 am
I find the wording of the article odd because I doubt Brazilians view themselves as “defiant.” They are just pursuing their own economic interests.
January 15th, 2024 at 8:53 am
Indeed. Of course, although I suppose that technically they are “defying” the US (not that others haven’t as well, in re: the embargo).
I do think that from a PR perspective, there is a sense that Brazil is ignoring the US and therefore defying the hovering giant to some degree.
January 15th, 2024 at 5:41 pm
There is definately more to this than just economic interests. As the Brazilian FM just said, “We want to see Cuba back in the fold and can provide the Cubans with a level of comfort in the transition ahead by not being confrontational like the United States.”