Latin America not US “backyard” – Russian PM
Latin America is not for Russia the “backyard” of the US, said Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev, in Cuba, 0n Friday. October 4 at the opening of a new oil production facility. Boca de Jaruco, 43 km from Havana.
He reiterated his country’s support for the region, especially Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, and denounced the “unilateral sanctions” of Washington.
“For our country, the Latin American and Caribbean region is one of the key areas of our international cooperation. It is not a US backyard for us. It is in our own interest that the region is stable and economically efficient,” he said.
Medvedev. is on an official visit to Cuba and on Thursday met with President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and with the leader of the Communist Party, Raúl Castro, in addition to presiding over the signing of several bilateral cooperation agreements.
This second day was initiated by receiving an honorary Doctor Honoris Causa in Political Science from the University of Havana, where he criticized the methods of several countries, including the US, to apply “political pressure and economic against nations that disagree.”
He denounced the “illicit unilateral sanctions” against nations in the region, especially Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which the Administration of the US president, Donald Trump, calls the “troika of tyranny” and on which Washington has redoubled economic and political sanctions.
“Such prohibitive measures are not only punishments for governments that opt for independent policies but are methods for intervening in internal affairs of states, and a limitation of rights and freedoms of citizens of these countries,” said
.On Venezuela, Medvedev said that “there is only one president and it is Nicolás Maduro” and warned that “only Venezuelans themselves can resolve their internal differences”. .Russia is, along with China, Cuba and Turkey, one of Maduro’s key allies against more than fifty countries – including the US, Canada and most Latin Americans – who since February recognize Juan Guaidó, leader of the Venezuelan Assembly as president
For the Russian Prime Minister, in Latin America “a new model of interference in the affairs of sovereign states is being tested.””The United States not only uses the so-called ‘soft coup’, but they directly demand a change of government (in Venezuela). They try to get into the affairs of any country and invest in destabilization. They don’t want to hear any criticism,” he said.
This third visit of Medvedev to the island – the first was in 2008 as president and the second in 2013 in his current position – reinforces the growing Russian presence in the Caribbean country and illustrates the closing of ranks of Russia with Cuba against the hostility of the United States neighbor
.”Cuba is one of our most reliable partners in the region,” he said while mentioning the agreements signed the day before in areas of trade, economy, investment, transport, and culture, among others.
He said that his Government will offer facilities to Cuban students who wish to study in Russia and announced, that they plan to open a branch in Cuba of the prestigious Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg, designed as a multidimensional center for the promotion of Russian language on the island and in the region
