The Cuban government has underscored the common vision it shares with Pope Francis on a series of issues including nuclear disarmament, environmental protection, and the war on poverty.
The President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, was received in a private audience in the Vatican by Pope Francis Tuesday, after which the Cuban government issued a press release stressing “the positive state of bilateral relations” between Cuba and the Holy See.
Cuba praised the pontiff for his “active role” in the search for solutions to the serious problems that affect humanity today.
It also noted the common criteria shared by the two parties “on issues such as the defense of international peace, nuclear disarmament, the protection of the environment, the promotion of solidarity and the fight against social exclusion, inequality, and poverty.”
This was the fourth encounter between Díaz-Canel and Pope Francis, the Cuban government observed, the first of which took place in March 2013, when Díaz-Canel attended Francis’ enthronement as pope.
In September 2015, the two met on the occasion of Francis’ apostolic visit to Cuba, and again in February 2016, when the pope met with the Russian Patriarch Kirill in Havana.
Also on Tuesday, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz reiterated the importance of Cuba’s strategic alliance and long-term friendship with Russia, noting that both nations “are under the effect of unilateral coercive measures which, in the case of Cuba, is a strong blockade.”
“For this reason, we must look for new ways and ways to carry out our economic cooperation relations outside the scope of the financial instruments imposed by the hegemony of the dollar,” he said.
This hegemony “is yielding more and more to a multipolar world, and where other actors such as China, India, and Russia acquire greater relevance and weight in the system of international trade and finance,” Marrero Cruz observed.