2023-09-14 12:09:19
Havana is preparing to host the G77+China summit on September 15 and 16. A first for the Cuban regime, while the economic situation in the country is catastrophic.
During the historic visit of US President Barack Obama in 2016, the Cuban government embarked on a vast operation to repair the avenues where White House delegations passed. The street cleaning operation has been repeated in recent days, before the opening of the G77+China summit.
In the heart of Old Havana, near the waterfront and Parque Central, old American cars from the 40s and 50s are lined up at attention, waiting for these thousands of foreigners eager to discover the capital in a convertible between two G77 meetings.
“Those who receive money from family abroad can barely get by. How can retirees like my grandmother, whose monthly pension is barely 2,000 pesos (15 euros), -they live?”
The G77 was founded in 1962 following decolonization, to allow new independent nations to be better recognized on the international scene. Subsequently, several dozen states joined the group. China is not formally part of it, but like these countries (which represent 80% of the world population) it shares the same desire: impose another world on the West, more favorable to their interests.
Great excitement in Havana
A total of 134 countries will participate in this meeting scheduled for this Friday and Saturday in the Cuban capital. Among the heavyweights of the meeting, we find India, Brazil, Nigeria and Indonesia. If there is great excitement in Havana to welcome presidents Lula (Brazil), Alberto Fernández (Argentina), António Guterres (UN Secretary General) and many others, the G77+China might give birth to a mouse.
Beyond declarations of intent, we do not expect much in the way of results from a summit which has “the role of science, technology and innovation” as a roadmap.
“Cuba was once a wonderful country. But it is now just a country of memories.”
One of the advisors of the Cuban Minister of Foreign Relations Bruno Rodriguez, Abelardo Moreno Fernández, declared at the beginning of the week that the main obstacle “to the objectives of the G77” is the United Statesalthough he later acknowledged that the G77 is “a disparate and diverse group, in which various ideologies and different worldviews converge.”
The Cuban paradox
By being the host of the G77 for the first time, the communist regime can boast of being recognized at the highest level, even if the country still has influence in development organizations and with countries in the region, especially thanks to past efforts. by Fidel Castro. But the economic situation, between American sanctions and catastrophic management, has never been so bad on the island.
Cubans now emigrate every year by the hundreds of thousands to the United States, Spain and to all the countries that are willing to welcome them. “We have less and less to eat. Those who receive money from family abroad can barely get by. How can retirees like my grandmother, whose monthly pension is barely 2,000 pesos (15 euros), survive?” laments Yadira (1), a Havana woman.
And added: “In Fidel’s time, the libretta (the ration book, Editor’s note) gave us something to live on. But today, there are fewer and fewer products, barely enough to eat for a few days“.
On the eve of the arrival of foreign delegations, the entire country was plunged into darkness following yet another power outage. From Havana to Guantanamo, stifling heat invaded homes. The salsa and reggeaton have stopped, giving way to the waltz of the mosquitoes. “It’s worse in Oriente (the east of the country, Editor’s note). There, power cuts are daily, from evening until 5 a.m.,” says Yadira.
And his neighbor Maria (1), a former pharmacist in her early sixties, adds: “Cuba was once a wonderful country. But it is no longer just a country of memories.” And to repeat “formerly” without wanting to date it before the Revolution. But to conclude: “My father was a member of the Communist Party. When he fell ill, no one from the Party came to see him during the two years of his illness. On the day of his death, Party activists came to get a donation. I gave them my father’s Party card.”
(1) First names have been changed.
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