NIKOLAI PATRUSHEV'S VISIT TO CUBA: A REMINDER OF THE CUBAN REGIME'S ALLIANCE WITH PUTIN IN THE WAR AGAINST UKRAINE

A dear friend of Democratic Spaces translated this news report from the Russian Parliament"‘s newspaper (PG) covering Nikolai Patrushev’s visit to Cuba on March 1, 2023. While we would like to remind our readers PG publishes Kremlin propaganda, it is important to give it visibility as it raises questions about Vladimir Putin’s plans in Cuba in the outcome of a defeat in Ukraine and in the context of a hemisphere where populist leaders rule in most countries in South and Central America. Latin America’s support of Ukraine has been almost. non existent and this is in large part the role of the Cuban regime’s diplomatic influence in the region.

Nikolai Patrushev is Vladimir Putin’s closest ally and a key member of the autocrat’s inner circle. He served as Director of the Federal Security Services (FSB) from 1999 to 2008 and ever since he has been Secretary of Russian Security Council. Patrushev was instrumental in Putin’s rise to power in 1999.

Note the photo of Nikolai Patrushev with Cuba’s Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas at the MININT’S headquarters with the institution’s hierarchy responsible for perpetrating gross human rights violations against pro democratic protesters in the July 11, 2021 protests as well as imprisonment and torture of activists and critics. It is known that dictatorships such as Russia and Cuba exchange repressive methods to perpetuate themselves in power.

In Canada, Democratic Spaces along with Cubadecide presented a request to Global Affairs Canada on November 14, 2022 calling on Magnitsky sanctions for Lazaro Álvarez Casas and other perpetrators such as Álvaro Lopez Miera the Cuban regime’s Minister of the Armed Forces, Police (PNR) Director Oscar Callejas Valcárcel and others in the Cuban dictatorships’s herierachy responsible for the July 11. 2021 crackdown of democratic protesters.

Nikolai Patrushev at the headquarters of the Cuban regime’s Interior Ministry along with Lazaro Alvarez Casas (Minister of Interior) and the hierarchy of the institution responsible for internal repression and gross human rights violations in Cuba.

"We fully support Moscow's position that the conflict in Ukraine was deliberately provoked by the West and NATO, and we understand that Russia was forced to launch a special operation,"

Miguel Díaz-Canel, handpicked president of Cuba.

02.03.2023 15:46 Rubric:
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Nikolai Patrushev: The West is throwing unprecedented resources into destabilizing the situation in Russia and Cuba

Ivan Egorov (Havana)

The previously unannounced visit of Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev to Venezuela and Cuba caused real hype in the American media, which considered it Moscow's response to the US Secretary of State's visit to Central Asian countries.

Nikolay Patrushev's meeting with Raul Castro was traditionally warm. / Ivan Egorov / RG

Nikolai Patrushev flew to Havana from Caracas, where he met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Madura and held extended Russian-Venezuelan security consultations. The same consultations with representatives of the Security Council apparatus and law enforcement agencies of Cuba and Russia were held on Thursday in Havana.

Nikolai Patrushev met with Raul Castro and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Havana on March 1, .2023.

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Nikolai Patrushesv in Cuba.

Octogenarian dictator Raúl Castro Ruz.

In addition, an almost two-hour meeting was held between the Secretary of the Russian Security Council and the leader of the Cuban revolution, Raul Castro, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

"Hello, my old friend!" Raul Castro hugged the Secretary of the Security Council tightly.

"Hello, Comandante! Hello, Comrade President! I am glad to meet again and warmly welcome you on the island of Liberty," Nikolay Patrushev greeted Castro and Diaz-Canel in response.

Nikolai Patrushev and Nicolas Maduro. February 28, 2023.

According to the legend of the Cuban revolution, Raul Castro, friendly relations between the peoples of the two countries cannot be destroyed and shaken, despite the efforts of all the world's imperialists led by the United States. He also thanked Russia and personally Vladimir Putin for all the assistance that our country provides to the island of Freedom.

In turn, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel dwelled in detail on the implementation of all the agreements that have been reached between Havana and Moscow in recent years. In addition, he said that the issue of launching the Russian Mir map system on the island is now being actively worked out in order to attract even more Russian tourists.

In addition, he touched on the international agenda and spoke on the situation in Ukraine.

"We fully support Moscow's position that the conflict in Ukraine was deliberately provoked by the West and NATO, and we understand that Russia was forced to launch a special operation," the Cuban leader said.

In response, Nikolai Patrushev noted that "the unprecedented anti-Russian campaign launched by the United States and its allies puts any sovereign state before a choice - to defend its own path of development and values, or to submit to the dictates of the collective West."

He also emphasized Russia and Cuba - one of the few states that successfully resist the "color revolutions".

"That is why the West is throwing such unprecedented resources at destabilizing the situation in our countries with an eye on the complete undermining of the constitutional order." - stated Nikolay Patrushev.

The same was said during the Russian-Cuban consultations on security, which were held by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council and the Minister of the Interior of Cuba, Alvarez Casas.

According to Patrushev, Washington and its satellites are not just trying to maintain a unipolar world order.

"They are trying to create a global colonial empire where only the voice of the West will be heard. Although today many people talk about so-called neo- colonialism, the methods remain the same - political suppression, military blackmail, financial enslavement, illegal economic sanctions, as well as aggressive propaganda," he stressed. Patrushev. He also noted that Moscow fully agrees with the position of the Cuban leadership that the 120-year-old occupation of part of Cuba in Guantanamo should be put to an end by the Americans.

Last week, the President of Cuba declared that 120 years have passed since the theft of Cuban sovereignty, when a dagger was inserted into the body of Cuba, which brings pain to other peoples. Diaz-Canelel recalled that the Americans use the base, including as an illegal prison.

Returning to the topic of Russian-Cuban relations, Nikolai Patrushev stressed that Cuba has repeatedly, including now, in practice proves that it is a true friend who does not leave Russia in difficult times.

"We are grateful for this comradely solidarity and, in turn, we are always ready to lend a helping hand to the fraternal Cuban people," said the RF Security Council Secretary.

According to him, just a week ago, a humanitarian consignment of Russian grain was delivered to the island, sent in accordance with the request of the Cuban authorities. In 2022, food aid from Russia was also sent to Cuba. In addition, as noted by the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the study of a number of other requests from Havana is nearing completion