Cuban dictator Miguel Diaz-Canel and six of his regime’s senior ministers began, on Wednesday, an international tour of a remarkable economic nature and linked to the energy crisis the country is suffering from.

Shortly before leaving Havana, Diaz-Canel said on his Twitter account @DiazCanelB that he had pledged A tour that will take you to four countries: Algeria, Russia, Turkey and China“In response to official invitations made by the leaders of those countries.”

The trip will last eleven days, until Sunday November 27. Díaz-Canel will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas and Alejandro Gil; Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez; his foreign trade counterpart, Rodrigo Malmerca; and those in charge of energy and health, Vicente de la O and José Ángel Portal, respectively.

Official images from Cuban television showed that for these international transfers, Diaz-Canel and his team use a Conviasa plane, the sanctioned Venezuelan state airline. Around Airbus YV3535It was purchased by the Chavista regime from Iranian airline Mahan Air, which is also subject to sanctions by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Russia’s news agency reported Wednesday that the Cuban dictator will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in Moscow. mouthQuoted from the island’s ambassador.

Diaz-Canel added that the tour will address basic issues “primarily related to the energy sector” in search of alternatives Reinforce the outdated power grid.

On Tuesday, the seventh floating power plant was leased to the company Karadeniz Holding, Based in Turkey, it aims to provide additional megawatts to the national electric power system.

The Caribbean island’s power problems, which cause annoying daily power outages, are one of the most painful symptoms of A. financial crisis Deeper because of US sanctions, the COVID-19 pandemic and incompetence in economic management, among other reasons.

For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the visit of Diaz-Canel, representative of Russia’s “very important partner” country with which “There’s a lot to talk about.”

Likewise, the Cuban Embassy in Moscow announced that Diaz-Canel will participate next Tuesday in the inauguration of a monument to Fidel Castro that will be held in the square that bears his name in the Sokol district of the capital.

Diaz-Canel’s last visit to Russia was in October 2019. In the following years, Putin and Diaz-Canel spoke on the phone on several occasions and reaffirmed their plans to intensify cooperation between Moscow and Havana. In those phone calls, the Cuban leader also expressed his gratitude to Putin for Russia’s help in the fight against the coronavirus.

This Wednesday, the Russian Senate once again condemned the US embargo on Cuba and demanded that it be lifted. According to the resolution approved by the legislators, the blockade that the island suffers from is “a systematic violation of the norms of international law enshrined in the United Nations Charter and a challenge to the entire system of international relations.”

(With information from EFE, EuropaPress and Reuters)

Read on: