CDMX, Mexico.- In February 1974, the Argentine government lent 1,278.8 million dollars to the Cuban. With this sum, the Caribbean island could acquire a thousand tractors, agricultural machinery, more than five thousand heavy trucks and six thousand Fiat cars; and they would also buy several models of cars from Argentina.
This was the largest loan granted by the South American nation to any country up to that time, and they took a risk with a nation that does not usually pay its debts. Almost 50 years later, Cuba has not paid a single dollar of that debt, which already exceeds 15 million, according to estimates.
for more than 10 years Debt It seemed forgotten by both parties, but once the military dictatorship ended, Argentina tried again to recover its money. Raúl Alfonsin was the first president of that country to visit the island. In October 1986 he landed in Havana and one of his tasks was to negotiate the payment; but he left without results.
By the 1990s, Cuba was already plunged into its worst crisis after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, so Argentina, to recover its money, proposed to invest in public works and tourism on the island. Even then President Carlos Menem discussed the issue with Fidel Castro; but once again there was no agreement and Cuba continued without paying an amount that grew, and grew.
According to the Infobae medium, during his tenure at the Foreign Ministry, Rafael Bielsa was the most interested in the matter. The now ambassador to Chile proposed to Cuba “a removal of 75% of the debt and to settle the remaining 25% in various ways: payment of interest in cash, free medical care for low-income Argentines on the island, provision by Cuba of some medicines and training in biotechnology to Argentine professionals”. They didn’t even pay.
Despite the unwillingness of the Caribbean dictatorship to settle its debts, in 2009, the then President Cristina Kichner signed 11 agreements with Fidel Castro in Havana. None of them referred to non-payment.
In March 2017, thanks to a request for information from gabriel sagedirector of the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (Cadal) it was learned that the debt was 2,551.7 million dollars.
Argentina has tried almost everything to collect the outstanding amount. They even went so far as to ask Cuba to send the vaccines against Covid-19 manufactured on the island as payment. But the dictatorship didn’t want to either. Before, in 2018, through diplomatic conversations they had already discussed the issue; but no results.
By 2019, that 1974 loan already reached 4,805 million, without default and punitive interest. According to the expertsthe application of these interests would easily double the aforementioned amount.
Will they pay?
At the beginning of 2023, the economist Orlando Ferreres he told Infobae that the value would now be about 15 million. Cuba without paying.
Argentine President Alberto Fernández will host the 7th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) next Tuesday, January 24, which will be held in his country. The event will be attended by Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel and will probably have to talk about the debt. Argentina, today in a deep crisis, needs that money very much.
One day before, that is, this Monday, a process against Cuba will begin in the Commercial Court of the Royal Courts of Justice in London, also for non-payment of debts in Europe.
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