Cuba Seeks Investments from Iran to Revive its Economy
Havana is interested in Tehran’s capacity to “process significant volumes of oil and gas”.
HAVANA TIMES – “It is evident that Tehran seeks to position itself in Latin America, and Cuba can be the most feasible entry.” The words of Óscar Julián Villar Barroso, professor of history at the University of Havana and regular interlocutor of the Russian agency Sputnik, describe the measure of the peaceful approach, but at full speed, between the two countries.
Following the recent visit of the Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero to the Iranian capital, the Island has hopes for the “increase in investments in the Cuban economy,” which remains in a coma despite Cuba’s alliances with Russia, China and Venezuela. For Villar Borroso, Havana can offer itself as a “viable and safe interlocutor” for Iran to set foot in the region.
Iran, according to Villar Barroso, is “especially” interested in helping the energy, biotechnology and transport sectors of the Island. Cuba, for its part, is interested in Iran’s ability to “process significant volumes of oil and gas.” The country has developed “an infrastructure for the exploration, extraction and treatment of hydrocarbons” and has achieved “progress in the nuclear sphere,” in addition to other “potentials and experiences” that the Island plans to use to its advantage.
Villar Barroso admits that Tehran’s interest is not so much economic as it is political. The “pragmatism” of Iranian foreign policy, he explains, is what led the new president, Masud Pezeshkian – elected after the death, in a helicopter accident, of his predecessor Ebrahim Raisí – to promise Marrero that “it will be a priority to strengthen relations with Cuba” and sign new agreements.
Pezeshkian’s speech and his dialogue with Marrero contained nods to Fidel Castro, whose “fight” against the United States he highlighted, a gesture that both Villar Barroso and Sputnik see as a good diplomatic signal towards the Cuban regime.
Cuba will be Iran’s base of operations and will help it dodge Washington’s sanctions if the U.S. tries to prevent it from doing business in Latin America, the academic evaluates. In return, Cuba will receive financial aid in “sectors where the Island has difficulty financing productions and activities.”
With regard to biotechnology, “there are already investments in that industry,” the academic explained. Iran hired Cuban scientists to open a production plant for the Soberana 02 vaccine in Iranian territory with “technology transferred” from the Finlay Vaccine Institute in Havana.
On the Iranian issue, Sputnik also interviewed Gleydis Sanamé Chávez, a researcher on Middle East and North Africa issues at the Havana International Policy Research Center. Sanamé said that Iran will help with the “modernization of thermoelectric and hydroelectric power plants in Cuba.”
Both countries have signed agreements in the area of sports, foreign trade, food, industry and technology, which Sanamé describes as valuable in the face of the “systematic crisis that the Island is going through.” Although, for Villar Barroso – who also talks frequently with Sputnik – the greatest value of the alliance with Tehran is that Cuba is a common factor for other regional powers, such as Russia and China, which “push for a gradual transition” and a “strategy” against Washington.
Last May, when Raisí was still alive, the head of the Iranian Port and Maritime Organization, Ali Akbar Safaei, revealed that Iran and Cuba are considering using the Island’s naval infrastructures with the aim of “satisfying the demand of South American countries.”
The official highlighted his Government’s interest in “strengthening relations” with “friendly countries” and giving continuity to “maritime trade and transport between Iran and South American countries, especially Venezuela.”
Iran is one of Nicolás Maduro’s main allies – subjected to international discredit after the fraud in the presidential elections – especially since 2020, when the shortage of gasoline forced Venezuela to go to the ayatollahs to buy fuel. In 2022, in addition, the country also known as Persia agreed to renew the Paraguaná Refining Center, the largest in Venezuela, although this is not yet a reality.
The talks about the use of Cuban port facilities took place as part of the trip to Tehran of the Minister of Transport of the Island, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, who met with his Iranian counterpart, Mehdi Bazarpash. At the meeting, the News Agency of the Islamic Republic (Irna) quoted the Iranian minister himself as saying, “we agreed to establish a twinning between two important ports of Iran and Cuba.”
Last February, in addition, Iran exempted Cubans – and citizens of about thirty countries – from visas as part of a plan to revive tourism, in crisis due to the bad image of the country, the coronavirus and the protests of 2022, harshly repressed by the Islamist regime in Tehran.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.
Unfortunately any involvement the Cuban government has with Iran, the money funnels its way into the corrupt Cuban leaders hands and pockets. No care or regards to the Cuban people regardless if they work for the paying resorts as cooks, gardening, or public relations
They are issued a useless card while their family starve as the usess card can purchase nothing as nothing is available. It’s all sold at supermarket 23, 50 and likewise. This is total abuse by a government.