Putin Writes Off $32 Billion of Cuba's Debts to Russia
Polly Mosendz
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Cuban President
Raul Castro meet in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow,
Wednesday, July 11, 2012.
((AP PHOTO/RIA-NOVOSTI, ALEXEI NIKOLSKY, PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE))
Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently on
a grand tour of Latin America. His first stop is in Havana, Cuba. Ahead
of arriving in Cuba, Putin decided to bestow a gift upon the Cuban
government. With one swift signature, he eliminated $32 billion of Cuba's debt, left over from the Soviet era.
Cuba isn't completely off the hook. They will be required to pay back
just $3.2 billion over the next ten years, a 90 percent decrease from
what they previously owed. The first payment is due in October, and will
be made from the National Bank of Cuba to the Russian lender Vnesheconombank.
Cuba has been working to restructure its debt over the last few years.
In 2011, Cuba was able to restructure a $6 billion debt with China.
Other nations have also forgiven their debt. In 2012, Japan forgave $1.4
billion and more recently, Mexico forgave $478 million in debt.
Cuba has oil reserves of between 4 billion and 20 billion barrels,
though likely in the area of 9 billion barrels. With the oil price at
$110 per barrel, this deal could bring around $900 billion. This is
comparable to the deal Rosneft currently has with Exxon Mobil in the
Arctic. As Russia stands to earn $900 billion (perhaps more) from Cuba
in oil, forgiving a $32 billion debt may be worth it to push contract
negotiations in Russia's favor.
Of course, perhaps it has nothing to do with oil at all, and Putin was just in a rare good mood that day.
everything that happened during the Soviet era was bullsh*t so this was the right thing to do. It's always that way...use the smaller powers to get what you want then leave them in the dust and get in bed with the alleged mutual enemy.
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Posted: Jul 12 2014 at 6:15pm
Not surprising.
Two communist countries. Cubans has the discipline and the education, Russia has power and money.
Will like to see more freedom for the Cuban citizens though. They have been oppressed for too long. How is that likely to be now that they are indebted to Russia
Wonderful. Sometimes I so wish that Haiti had successfully gone the way of Cuba. Lord know we have people who tried but they all got neutralized by the U.S who put puppets in charge. Too bad we couldn't pull it off, we would have been in better shape. Don't get me wrong, I know that life in Cuba is not a walk in the park and not to be romanticized (Rummie knows a lot about that), but their literacy rate is amazing, they have the best doctor training programs, etc. I love Cuba and have great admiration for what they have accomplished
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