Cuba finds in the BRICS an atmosphere of cooperation and solidarity

If Cuba’s application to join the BRICS had created great expectation and hopes—among those who love and defend Cuba—-there are even more arguments and reasons in favor of this fair request now that the island is coping with both an electrical emergency and severe damages that tropical storm Oscar caused in the eastern provinces.

Emerged as an alternative to the G-7, BRICS is holding its 16th Summit in the Russian city of Kazan and, truth be told, many compatriots were looking forward to the presence there of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who had plans to meet with Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China, as well as with leaders of Vietnam and other friendly countries. However, he himself announced that he would not attend in order to remain in charge of the recovery efforts to fix the nationwide energy problems and the effects of tropical storm in the province of Guantanamo.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez took over in his stead at the head of the Cuban delegation to the Summit, where he will no doubt seize every opportunity to report on both the difficult and adverse moments Cuba is going through and the extent of the damage caused by the U.S. blockade, which cannot prevent the island from making its goods and services available to the members of BRICS, a well-established and prestigious multilateral entity likely to provide an alternative against the said criminal U.S. Cuba policy and become an expression of support for the efforts and achievements of a people that resists creatively and whose human capital stands as one of its main strengths.

Even more so when this alliance of emerging markets and developing countries helps its member states to develop links and derive collective benefits, which makes it hardly surprising that BRICS boasts a record number of nations interested in joining, 34 in total.

President Putin’s invitation to Díaz-Canel to attend the Summit in Kazan represents an important opportunity, considering Cuba’s historical relationship with the BRICS and its recent application to get partner country status.
According to Bruno Rodriguez, BRICS is growing stronger as a key player in global geopolitics that brings hopes to the countries of the South with a view to a more just, equitable and sustainable multilateral international order.

In a recent article called “The BRICS: An opportunity for Cuba in its development strategy” published in the digital edition of The Economist, journalist and university professor Frank Hernández González pointed out that our country has little to offer compared with the ten current members in terms of population, GDP, economic resources, technology and finance, but remarked that Cuba contributes civic responsibility and international political prestige, human capital, experience in knowledge management, and a history of survival under extreme conditions of economic, commercial and financial blockade, but above all, it brings transparency in its international management and commitment to the equitable development of nations.

In the words of the Cuban President, “a country like ours, constantly besieged by imperial policies, faced with an intensified blockade and its inclusion in a spurious list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism, finds in the BRICS an atmosphere of inclusion, equality, cooperation and solidarity”.