Mirta Granda Averhoff: “Very good relations with Italy that can be strengthened”
“Cuba is prepared for the arrival of the new president-elect of the United States. We have already had a Trump mandate and we are ready to work in a second mandate with the American president and government”. This was stated by the Cuban ambassador in Rome, Mirta Granda Averhoff, in an interview with Adnkronos.
“Cuba – underlines the guest ambassador of the TV studio at the Palazzo dell’Informazione (VIDEO) – has always shown its willingness to have stable relations with neighboring countries, but in the past it has not been like this. We hope that on the occasion of this new mandate, the United States is a little wiser. The first period of Trump’s government was particularly aggressive for Cuba but we are ready to start this new phase with great desire to work with all our neighbors“.
With Italy’s tradition of friendship, relationships can still grow stronger
As for relations with Italy there is no doubt, they are excellent and “they are first and foremost relations of mutual respect: we have a tradition of friendship that goes back in time and does not depend on individual governments or on the changes taking place in the world. They are consolidated relations , because many traditions, a common history, unite us.” And there is room “to further strengthen” these relationships.
“Italy was a country that brought a lot to the culture and history of Cuba, with the many Italians who participated in the fight for our independence,” he says. “Within the country we find signs of Italian culture everywhere and our people are similar, close, in their traditions, in their taste for good wine and, in the case of Cuba, our good rum, our tobacco. Italians like Cuba very much, they find a conducive environment to carry out their investments and activities”.
333 Cuban doctors in Calabria
“In a general sense there are very good relations that can be strengthened more and more every day on the basis of respect and peaceful coexistence between our countries”, he underlines, citing examples of collaboration: “Cuba has collaborated with Italy on the health plan, there are 333 doctors in a brigade in Calabriawho together with local doctors try to improve health indicators for the population. I have always been told very positive things about the work being done in that area.” And again, “at the time of Covid, Cuba came to collaborate with Italy, but I always say that it is also repaying this friendship and this human warmth of Italians towards my country”. “Italy – he concludes – is one of the main countries of origin of tourism. Italians particularly appreciate the beauties of Cuban nature. It’s an aspect we’ve worked a lot on and we can continue to do so.”
The ambassador then describes the situation in recent months in the country: “This year has been particularly hard for the Cuban economy and in the last two months we have suffered various very negative events, with two particularly destructive cyclones in the same month, and an earthquake The electrical energy system – which is old, and requires constant repairs – has been disconnected on three occasions.”
Cuba fights for its development and to overcome the crisis
“It must be said that Cuba, like all countries in the world, faces an international economic crisis that has existed since Covid-19. Our country also has to face the ‘bloqueo’, the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed for over 60 years by the United States government and which has strengthened, particularly during the administration of President Trump. In our country there is therefore a damaged economy that has difficulty improving services. There is a lack of fuel, which has prices that we are sometimes unable to pay and which must be imported from distant places to get the system back into operation”, he explains further, specifying that Cuba is “changing the country’s energy matrix towards a ‘cleaner energy, solar, wind, also to mitigate the problem of fuel prices”.
“We are a small island state and we suffer the effects of climate change, which can be seen in these increasingly destructive cyclones”, he finally reiterates while ensuring “the will of the Cuban people to continue fighting for their development and overcome this situation”.
