The public visit to the Russian ship Perekop, anchored in Havana since Tuesday, which initially would start yesterday Wednesday, will no longer take place. The agents who guarded the place, surrounded by Russian sailors, made it clear to whoever was approaching: “The visit is definitively suspended and there will be no other opportunity.”
As happened the day before, the ship attracted very little attention from Havanans this Thursday, normally enthusiastic when a boat of this type arriveslike Spanish Juan Sebastian Elcano or the mexican Cuauhtémoc.
Around ten in the morning, only a few curious people were taking photos from the port. “That shows the love that this town has for the Russians,” said a passerby, sarcastically, when asked by this newspaper if she wanted to get on the ship, which will leave this Friday: “Not crazy!” .
The Russian Embassy in the capital, which had kindly said by telephone on Wednesday that the visits would begin today, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., this Thursday refused to provide information. Nor did the official Cuban press give explanations, which also had announced the scheduled visits.
Several of them lingered at the Obispo street fair, buying souvenirs. Others drank rum and smoked tobacco on a terrace
Given the silence of the authorities, speculation ranges from various theories, from the little interest shown by the Cubans in greeting the Russian crew – or even the rejection of the return of the bowling- even a possible decision by both parties not to give too much publicity to the presence of a Russian warship in the port of Havana.
Meanwhile, the Russian cadets, walking through the streets of Old Havana, aroused the attention of the people as they passed. Several of them lingered at the Obispo street fair, buying souvenirs. Others spent more than an hour in front of an ATM before being able to enter the cubicle that houses the machines, to withdraw cash. with their MIR cards, linked to Russian accounts. Some more drank rum and smoked tobacco on a terrace.
The arrival of the military ship was described this Wednesday in the Russian media as “evidence of the close ties” between Havana and Moscow. “Although this is the first visit of Perekop to the largest of the Antilles, since the ties with the extinct Soviet Union, the visit of the Eurasian country’s navy to Cuba is ‘normal’,” Cuban official Mario told Sputnik. Antonio Padilla Torres, academic at the International Policy Research Center.
The Russian ship dropped anchor without being received by any senior official, just at the time the Cuban Foreign Ministry issued an official statement on the passage through the US naval base of Guantanamo, from July 5 to 8, of a nuclear-powered submarine as part of the US “provocative escalation”.
“The presence there of a nuclear submarine at this time forces us to question what is the military reason for the event in this peaceful region of the world, against what objective it is directed and what strategic purpose it pursues,” argued the text that, however, abstained. to allude to the arrival, days later, of a military ship with a capacity for 500 Russian navy soldiers that arrived on the Island on the second anniversary of the massive protests of July 11, 2021.
Hours later, the United States responded to Cuba that it has the right to move assets to its military base in Guantanamo.
“As the Pentagon has already said, we will continue to fly, navigate and move military assets where international law allows us,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a press conference on Tuesday.
For the former Cuban general exiled in the US raphael del pinothe visit of Perekop it hides other interests beyond sending humanitarian aid. According to his most recent reportendorsed by the Cuba 21st Century organization, Moscow’s strategy is “to establish a constant flow of trips to Cuba by air and naval vessels with conventional and nuclear strike capacity that will serve Putin to obtain concessions in a theatrical game of blackmail politician in which he assumes the role of ‘irrational actor'”.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
