Maduro Promises Venezuela’s Support to Cuba, “Today and Always”

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro received a visit this week from Cuba’s Vice President Ricardo Cabrisas and described the relations between Cuba and Venezuela as “indestructible”.

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES – Cuba and Venezuela enjoy a relationship of mutual dependency dating back to the beginning of the 21^st century when Hugo Chavez (president from 1999-2013), mentored by Fidel Castro, came to power in the South American country.

The mutual exchange involves Venezuela supplying Cuba with its oil needs in return for the Cuban government sending tens of thousands of doctors, educators, agronomists, trainers, military and security personal to staff and advise social programs and security organisms.  

The details of the agreement were never made public, and there is no public record on the many billions of dollars in exchange. However, in doing the math, analysts note that the Cuban professionals are paid an extremely low survival salary, but their work is credited by Caracas to the Cuban government at a premium price.

The meeting between Maduro and Cabrisas served as a reassurance for Cuba that Venezuela was not going to abandon it despite that country’s internal economic crisis, resulting from a combination of mismanagement of the economy, falling oil production and US sanctions. Maduro blames everything on the latter, in the same fashion that Cuba blames the US for all of its shortcomings.

Maduro said the indestructible brotherly relationship with Cuba is based on “humanism, solidarity, values, principles and complementing each other on both people and governmental levels,” reported Granma newspaper.

On January 19 and 20 the binational intergovernmental delegations signed agreements to continue their economic and social cooperation for the coming years. Maduro went further in stating Cuba “can count on Venezuela for everything, today and always.”