By Alejandra Garcia on December 5, 2023
Iran and Cuba signed seven cooperation instruments that strengthen relations in the economic, health and scientific-technical areas, photo: Alejandro Azcuy
Cuba does not remain indifferent to the escalation of violence in the Middle East, a region suffering the direct consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In every scenario, the government of the Caribbean island loudly expresses its support for the Palestinian people and rejects the Zionist regime’s ongoing massacre in Gaza. This week, President Miguel Diaz-Canel took his message of peace to two allied and friendly nations, Iran and Qatar, countries he visited after participating in the ongoing UN climate summit (COP28) held in the United Arab Emirates.
On November 28, Diaz-Canel arrived in the United Arab Emirates, his first stop on his official tour to the Middle East. In addition to heading the Cuban delegation, he led the Leaders’ Meeting of the Group of 77 and China (G-77), a meeting Cuba convened as pro tempore president of that group of nations.
On Sunday, December 3, the Cuban president traveled to Qatar, where he was received by the Emir of the nation, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. The greeting between the two leaders marked the beginning of Diaz-Canel’s first official visit to this Persian Gulf nation, with which Cuba has had uninterrupted diplomatic relations for more than three decades.
“We are very pleased with his visit. It enhances the historical, ancestral relations with Cuba, a bond that we are very honored to have,” said the head of the Qatari state. In that first meeting, Al-Thani recalled Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, “a man who fought for the causes he had faith in while inspiring millions of human beings living under the yoke of colonialism in different parts of the planet.”
The Qatari leader recalled that “Cuba has always supported just Arab causes and now, the central concern of the Arabs is the Palestinian struggle. Cuba deserves our gratitude for the support it gives to the Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their inalienable rights,” he stressed.
Diaz-Canel also highlighted that Qatar has strong ties with Cuba. “We admire the dynamism with which the Qatari authorities undertake the economic and social development of that friendly nation, which was the first country of the Gulf Cooperation Council to open an embassy in Havana,” the Cuban president mentioned.
Cuba and Qatar share interests in health, tourism, education, and sports spheres. They also advocate peace, condemned blockades and interferences in internal affairs, and defend other important positions for world equilibrium. “Both nations will always have a friendship beyond time and distance,” said Diaz-Canel after he visited the Arab nation.
In his last stop of this recent tour, the Cuban leader and a high-level political and economic delegation arrived in Iran at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart, Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, who visited Cuba last June. During the visit, solidarity, the common good, and the yearning for a peaceful world was in the center of all the discussions.
In addition to President Raisi, Diaz-Canel meet with the leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, as a symbol of respect for the history of solidarity that unites both nations.
Deepening on the historical links between the Iranian and Cuban processes, the leader of the Islamic Revolution commented, “22 years ago, I met with leader Fidel Castro. The Cuban Revolution and the figure of Castro always had a special attraction for us because of his sincerity in his revolutionary views.”
“We must take advantage of the current political and economic capabilities between Iran and Cuba to form a coalition between the countries that share the same stance against the US impositions and other authoritarian regimes,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. Iranian leader Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi also insisted on the creation of a coalition to defend the rights of the Palestinian people against the genocide and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing in Gaza.
“We need to unite to support the oppressed Palestinian people on different continents in the face of the ineffectiveness of international organizations and the distant gaze of the international community,” he said.
This visit showed that the Arab people, Palestine, and especially the Gaza Strip are not alone. Cuba closely follows with pain the flagrant violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people, the result of decades of illegal occupation and colonization. As always Cuba is an active practitioner of solidarity
“Every scenario is justified to offer our unconditional support to the Palestinian cause and to shake a helping hand with the Arab peoples. We are confident that together we will raise our voice for the victims of the conflict to stop the escalation of violence, which has serious humanitarian consequences for the entire region and the world,” President Díaz-Canel concluded.
Cuba’s growing closeness with these key countries of the Middle East marks a re alignment of nations who seek strengthening relationships based on mutual benefit and respect.
Source: Resumen Lationamericano – English