Brazilian leader Lula rekindles ties with Cuba at Havana summit
RIO DE JANEIRO
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with his Cuban counterpart on Sept. 16 in Havana, signaling a revitalization of ties between the two countries in the first trip by a Brazilian president to the Caribbean nation in nine years.
Lula was in Havana for the s ummit of the Group of 77 emerging economies plus China. The group, founded in the 1960s, is meeting in Cuba just days ahead of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Addressing the summit, Lula lamented the U.S.-led embargo of Cuba.
“We reject the inclusion of Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism,” he said.
Cuba and Brazil share strong historical and demographic ties. Lula and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro were friends, and Lula's narrow victory over former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in last year’s election was celebrated in Cuba.
Ties were strong between the two countries when Lula’s leftist Workers’ Party was in power between 2003 and 2016 but turned sour under Bolsonaro.
An expansion of trade links between the two countries is also expected to be on the agenda. In 2022, Brazil had a trade surplus of approximately $287 million with Cuba.
Brazil principally exported vegetal fats and oils, rice and poultry meat.
Cuba is in the throes of what some experts have called its gravest economic crisis since the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
While increased imports of a range of goods would be welcome on the island, the Cuban government is widely thought to lack the funds to pay.
But Cuba is also going through a transformation process, with the opening of small and medium-sized private companies. Since small ventures became legal in September 2021, more than 8,000 companies have been launched in Cuba.
