Despite opposition rejection in South Africa, Bruno Rodríguez managed to renew a cooperation agreement that was very beneficial to Havana.
14ymedio, Havana, 19 March 2025 — Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero hugged Denis Sassou Nguesso, President-for-life of the Republic of Congo. “It has been a historic visit, very exciting, a reunion between two governments and sister countries,” he said on Tuesday when closing a day of meetings in Brazzaville, the country’s capital. The Congolese did not want to be left behind: “No matter how long the night is, the sun will shine for the Cuban people.”
“We are very satisfied, and we believe we have met the objectives to raise economic and trade relations to the same level as policies,” added the Cuban leader, trade being the central issue. Marrero had previously met with his counterpart, Anatole Collinet Makosso, and the delegations of both countries agreed to update the “potentialities for cooperation, strengthen collaboration in public health, technology, science and innovation, training of human resources, tourism development, culture; and the development of the hydrocarbon sector,” among other collaborations.
The Congo, like the rest of Africa, has been negotiating, although, as usual, it is not yet clear for what or how. The Cuban Prime Minister is in Africa on a trip that continues tomorrow to Namibia and Equatorial Guinea. He is accompanied by an important entourage, which includes the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda; the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Déborah Rivas Saavedra; and the Director General of Bilateral Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Miguel Pereira Hernández.
The independent press has focused on the fact that Marrero has included his wife in the delegation
The independent press has focused on the fact that Marrero has included his wife in the delegation, although it is worth remembering that Yadira Ramírez Morera is the communication director of the Ministry of Tourism, a department that also seeks agreements in Africa.
Yesterday, Marrero, along with the Congolese prime minister, paid tribute at the mausoleum of Marien Ngouabi, the fourth president, who played a role in African liberation struggles. Marrero also laid a floral offering in front of the monument dedicated to the former president of the country, Thomas Sankara, a revolutionary leader nicknamed the “African Che Guevara.”
The show does not end there, since Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is doing his own African tour, which began on Friday, March 14, in Burkina Faso. Rodríguez commemorated the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cuba and Burkina Faso, the same as he did in Ethiopia, where he held meetings with the authorities and emphasized “Cuba’s will to strengthen cooperation” in these times of crisis.
In Ghana, the Cuban Foreign Minister also made the obligatory floral offering, in this case to the Marxist Kwame Nkrumah, “founding father of the Ghanaian nation and symbol of African unity,” in the words of Prensa Latina. Rodríguez took the opportunity to recall on his X account that the Pan-African leader was the first in the region to meet with Fidel Castro.
For decades, the Island has sent doctors to Ghana, and there was a controversy years ago over a speech that clashed with the official position
“I participated in a meeting with the Solidarity Movement with Cuba, graduates from our country and Cubans living in Ghana, as part of my official visit. I thanked everyone for their support for our country and their invariable solidarity with the Cuban people,” the foreign minister said in another post. For decades, the Island has sent doctors to Ghana, where there was a controversy years ago over a speech that clashed with the official discourse of the Island’s authorities.
In 2018, the then Deputy Minister of Health Marcia Cobas complained that the Government of Ghana had a debt with Cuba of. 4.7 million dollars, an amount accumulated for at least eight years. “It’s not fair,” the official said during a visit in which, according to local media, she deplored that attitude and said that even poorer countries, such as Chad, paid on time.
Two weeks ago, in an episode of State TV’s Round Table program aimed at praising the work of medical missions in the face of Washington’s new sanctions, the Government argued that only countries “that have a little more economic solvency” pay. “There are 25 countries where the missions are still totally free, because they have no resources to contribute to Cuba. We remain there with 25 cooperation agreements that do not generate a penny,” they claimed in contradiction with that demand.
Rodríguez’s most important meeting, however, was in Pretoria, where he met with the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola “to promote bilateral relations.” It is another of the meetings of which no detail has been revealed, because in the relations of the Island with African countries there is always some gain for Cuba that takes time to become public.
This is the case for the beginning of the Kgala cooperation plan, a new suit in the old disguise known as Project Thusano, a military agreement between Cuba and South Africa that was in force between 2015 and 2025, through which, according to the opposition, Cuba earned 1.7 billion rands (93.6 million dollars) in “irregular” expenses. Among the best known cases of that agreement is Cuba’s sale of Heberon Alfa R for the coronavirus crisis, whose purchase was made by Defense without the required authorization by Health. At the beginning of covid-19, Cuba believed the virus was a bacteriological weapon, and in that operation alone, the Island pocketed almost two million dollars, which would have been 17 million if the purchase had been completed.
The Democratic Alliance (an opposition group in South Africa) recalled this week that an audit revealed that “the cost of maintaining and repairing military vehicles through Cuban suppliers was 2.8 times more expensive than if local mechanics had been used.”
In addition, 136% more was invested in medical training on the Island than it would have cost in South Africa, which did not translate into better knowledge since only 28% of students passed the validation exam afterwards.
In January of this year, when Thusano expired, the creation of Kgala was announced. “Despite the attempt of the Department of Defense to rethink the project with a new name, the reality remains the same: an expensive and politically motivated operation that is a complete waste of South African resources,” argues the organization, which has asked the Government to paralyze it.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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