"Thaw" on Liberty Island: Cuba already thanks CIA for support

Evgeny Bai

As NI had already been informed, in mid-January the CIA released a report stating that US intelligence found no evidence of any state's involvement in the so-called "Havana Syndrome". We are talking about a mystical illness of American diplomats in various capitals of the world, which began in 2016 in Havana. Then a large number of people almost simultaneously began to experience severe headaches, nausea, loss of orientation and memory.

The CIA suspected the intrigues of Moscow, which, according to American experts, was not interested in the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States, initiated by Barack Obama. However, diplomats from the United States, as well as Canada and other countries—Austria, Russia, China, India, and Germany—began to experience similar symptoms soon. In total, about 1,000 people were affected by Havana syndrome.

And now Langley, after many months of research, came to the conclusion that no trace of any intelligence of the world was revealed. According to the independent Cuban newspaper 14 and a Half, "The CIA was Cuba's worst enemy, but now the Cuban authorities seized on his report to achieve their goals."

And this goal is to restore normal diplomatic contacts between the two countries. "The logical step for the US government would now be to normalize the work of its embassy in Havana and our embassy in Washington," Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio told CNN.

In 2017, at the behest of Donald Trump, the State Department withdrew more than half of its diplomats from Havana. Now there are 10 consular workers left in the US embassy, but they do not issue entry visas to the Cubans in the US, but only respond to emergencies involving life and death of citizens.

Last fall, President Joe Biden announced the need to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba and asked his foreign office to send new diplomats to Havana, and also promised to lift a number of bans imposed by Trump.

Democrats in Congress are pushing him to do so. Last December, 114 Democratic congressmen sent a letter to the White House urging Biden, in particular, to lift the ban on sending money orders and food parcels to the island by Cuban-Americans from Florida.

These remittances and parcels have played a vital role in keeping the Cuban economy afloat for many years, and at times have come out on top among the country's income items.

Last year, the economic crisis on the island sharply worsened. An already highly inefficient planned economy has collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has paralyzed the tourism industry.

The economic downturn was 11 percent. This year, after the opening of the country to tourists, a growth of 2 percent is expected, but the situation remains dramatic. Cuba is helped with food by such poor countries as Nicaragua and Bolivia, and Venezuela in the last months of last year doubled its oil supplies to the island.

However, “American imperialism” is also actively helping, which the Cuban authorities never tire of accusing of blockade of their country. So, in October last year, American food supplies to Cuba (we are talking primarily about chicken meat) amounted to $ 22.7 million (an increase of 91 percent compared to the same period in 2020, and compared to 2019 by as much as 501 percent).

The Cuban authorities, for all their rhetoric, are asleep and see a new thaw in relations with America, with which they have the main hopes for a way out of the permanent crisis. What "missile bases" of Russia in this situation can we talk about? They exist only in the sick imagination of some State Duma deputies and "patriotic" pro-Kremlin propagandists.