HAVANA (AP) — Cuba on Thursday received thousands of tons of wheat donated by Russia and shipped on a ship that spent several weeks at sea before being able to dock on the island due to sanctions imposed on shores by the West Eurasian Country. .
Moscow’s aid comes at a time of grave crisis in the Caribbean nation as a result of the new coronavirus pandemic and the very measures the United States has also enacted against Havana, urging a model change on the island.
“This wheat ship that we welcome sailed to Cuba in the first days of February, but it has lasted almost a month in waters near the island without being able to dock or unload what will later become bread for the Cubans will,” said Russian Ambassador to Cuba Andrei A. Guskov, who led a ceremony to thank local authorities.
The diplomat said the difficulties arose because the freight money paid by Moscow could not take effect due to the shutdown of Russian banks by the international financial system under Western sanctions against Moscow. The cargo consisted of 19,500 tons of wheat.
The grain shipment comes on top of 85 tons of medicines that arrived in Cuba on five planes in the past few weeks, and another 170 tons that arrived on another five planes with food and medical supplies, Guskov added, without giving the dates.
During these months, although Cuba expressed its position on a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine, it demonstrated its alliance with Russia in the face of US-imposed or sponsored sanctions against both states.
On the Cuban side, Mercedes López Acea, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Food Industry, thanked for the solidarity within the framework of the “historical and political ties” that unite both nations “on the basis of friendship and mutual respect”.
Cuba was a strong Moscow ally during the Cold War and the victory of the revolution in the 1960s, and when the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe crumbled three decades later, alienation ensued, although the political alliance has resumed in recent years.
Countries like China, Mexico and even US NGOs sent humanitarian aid to the island during those months.