‘Cuban-Indian friendship has withstood the proof of time’

An exclusive interview with the Cuban ambassador in India

Bela Malik Delhi

A newly emergent global equation has developed in Latin America and the Caribbean region with the left in the reckoning in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. Cuba is being brought into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) and the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom). There is the move towards the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (Alba). The message given to President George W Bush in the Fourth Summit of the Americas by Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay was clear on the Free Trade Area of the Americas. It looks as though the Bolivarian revolution for an independent America is ongoing in the continent and the US efforts to isolate Venezuela are not going to be so easy. These developments provide an opportunity for India. It was in this context that Hardnews spoke to Juan F. Carretero Ibañez, Ambassador of Cuba. 

Excerpts from the interview. 

What are the ways in which economic, strategic and other solidarities between Latin America and the Caribbean and India can be forged to mutual benefit?

India can have a natural and strategic partnership with Latin America in the political and economic fields because of their shared history of colonialism and underdevelopment. The new progressive governments in power in Latin America are keen to forge partnerships with developing countries. India has a long tradition of an independent non-aligned foreign policy. Both Latin America and India constitute large markets and are resource-rich, which makes it sensible to go for economic partnerships rather than competition. The new economic integration schemes such as Mercosur and Alba present an opportunity for India. Triangles of cooperation can be developed between Venezuela, Cuba and India just as India is moving towards forging a powerful triangle of free trade cooperation with Brazil and South Africa, and along the lines China is pursuing investment and technology inputs into Latin Amercia. Indian businesspeople are already visiting Latin America and the Caribbean. Such excha-nges can continue.

What are the areas in which economic relations can be strengthened between the Cuba and India?

There is tremendous possibility here, which is already being explored. Cuba is involved in the construction of laboratories and the transfer of monoclonal biotechnology to India. A vaccine for certain cancers is under clinical trial in India before Bicom India Ltd can get the license to produce it. 

In oil exploration, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is in western Cuba in the Gulf of Mexico. OVL has entered into an agreement with Repsol-YPF for deepwater exploration, pending Cuban approval.

India can offer its affordable generic medicines to Cuba. Raw materials can be imported from India for manufacturing drugs and medicines in Cuba. Indian entrepreneurs can explore Cuba's tourism industry and the sector of renewable energy (solar panels, for example). 

Cuba and India have shared a fraternal relationship for more than 45 years, one that has been continued by different governments in Delhi. President Fidel Castro was invited to India by President Abdul Kalam in 2003 and we hope that he will honour the invitation as soon as he can. The next year Cuba will host the non-aligned summit and with India's active role in that body, relations between the two countries can only strengthen.

What about Cuba and India in WTO?

Cuba is a founder-member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Along with India it is a member of the G20, the group of nations that protects the interests of developing countries. Cuba aims to obtain justice for farmers and producers of the poorer countries in the international trade organisation. We are all excluded from the markets of the richer countries and world trade continues to favour the richest countries.

There is concern about "Cuba after President Fidel Castro". Do you have any comments on this?

President Fidel Castro is not god, he is human and every human being has to die some day. As he said many times the revolution will continue because it is not the political and social project of one person, but a project that is being led by the Communist Party of Cuba with the overwhelming support of the people. All preparations are in place for the eventuality in which he will not be able to dispense his responsibilities. There will be no surprises.

The establishment in the US has many dreams for Cuba after President Fidel Castro, but the people of Cuba having fought back for 45 years are not going to succumb so easily. They will not sit by silently to witness the conversion of their sovereign nation into a colony of the US for it to reverse the gains of the revolution by and taking back the people to the darkness of our colonial past.

The US think tanks analyse a world that they fabricate. It is not a real world, or else how do you explain Iraq? They construct a world of lies and then launch war. It was that in Chile in 1973 with the murder of Salvador Allende. It is the same pattern. They pay money to a section of a country's military and instigate a coup. They have no imagination, no sense of dialectics. What they lack in creativity, they make up for by invoking god. Their government has no mandate of its own people. 

Forty-five years of relentless attack by the US has been withstood by our people. There has been no substantial difference whether there is a democrat or republican in power. Jimmy Carter was different though; he visited our country and did not have that rabid prejudice. For the rest, American republicans want to strangle us with a barbed wire, and democrats with a silk cord. There is no effective political opposition within the US because one party cannot criticise the other.

But the American people have awoken to the realities of such leaders and are unveiling the truth. We have no animosity towards the American people. We share their values of freedom, their aspirations of justice, and their dreams for civil rights. Being neighbours, we can coexist in peace. All it needs is mutual respect and the determination to keep relations normal.

What about cooperation in other spheres such as education, health, arts and sports? 

In Cuban primary schools we have lessons based on Rabindranath Tagore. More exchanges can be done through cinema, people-to-people contacts and press conferences. In literacy, we have a cathedra of literacy and education which can be freely made available to Indian government or non-government organisations. This package has been accepted by Unesco as a good module for literacy at a low cost in a short time.

A pilot project can demonstrate its practical efficacy. This programme was used successfully in Venezuela in its triumph against illiteracy and in New Zealand among the indigenous Maori.

In sports, we have one boxing coach here presently. The late Sunil Dutt was supposed to visit Cuba to sign an agreement for deeper sports ties but he unfortunately died a few days before his scheduled departure. We are awaiting the appointment of his successor to finalise this.           

We had offered India and Pakistan medical aid after the October 8 earthquake. Pakistan accepted and Cuba has stationed a medical team of 1,300 volunteers (of which 44 per cent are women) and 30 mobile hospitals in affected areas in Pakistan for earthquake relief. This is a little known fact that is blurred out by the western mainstream media that chooses to focus on US-based humanitarian relief. Only the Pakistani media has highlighted our presence.

Cuba's stand on Iran's nuclear facilities is unambiguous. What does it make of India's stand on September 24, 2005 at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its growing proximity to the US?

As a matter of course Cuba never interferes in the internal affairs and foreign policies of any country. For this reason we do not have to air an opinion on the position of India in relation to Iran and the IAEA, and about the relationship between India and the United States. These two issues are within the competence of the Indian government and the Indian people, but as a personal reflection we are certain that India as a close friend of Cuba, with a strong friendship to resist the proof of time, will be always for mutual understanding. 

What can India do in the matter of the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, the terrorist of Cuban origin? 

We are totally convinced that India, a country which is suffering from terrorist attacks will always support the Cuban position on this issue.