President of Cuba Meets President Maduro in Venezuela (+CELAC)
Orinoco Tribune, January 26, 2023 — This Wednesday, January 25, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, arrived in Venezuela, in order to work with Venezuelan authorities after President Maduro was made to cancel his attendance at the CELAC Summit.
The Cuban president was received by President Maduro at the Maiquetía International Airport, in La Guaira. Upon his arrival, he was honored in due fashion as head of state of the Cuba, according to images broadcasted by Venezolana de Televisión.
Díaz-Canel and his delegation are on their way back to Cuba after participating in the CELAC Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, having reaffirmed the island’s commitment to strengthen the regional organization.
President Maduro canceled his participation in the CELAC Summit due to intelligence reports pointing at a big disruption organized by Argentinian far-right forces, in conjunction with the US embassy in Buenos Aires, including threat of arrest upon his would-be arrival on Argentinian soil.
Maduro and Díaz-Canel discussed the details of the CELAC Summit in their meeting, noting its timid mention of Venezuela in its final declaration, as the summit failed to question the US and European strategy of illegal sanctions and blockades upon the South American country.
“We welcome the agreements reached on November 26, 2022, within the framework of the process of dialogue and negotiation between the Government of Venezuela and the Unitary Platform of Venezuela, as promoted by the governments of México and Norway,” reads the “Buenos Aires Declaration” in its section on Venezuela. “In this regard, we welcome the support of the international community on the implementation of said agreements.”
In 2000, Venezuela and Cuba signed the Comprehensive Cuba-Venezuela Cooperation Agreement, a mechanism that aims at the cooperation of the countries in the areas of health, economy, education, sports, and culture, for the combined collective benefit of the peoples. To date, there are more than 1,700 cooperation agreements within this framework across different areas.
Meanwhile, social media is bursting with a photo of Díaz-Canel next to the Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, in a posture that does not dissuade from the indication of contempt towards his Chilean counterpart. Boric portrays himself as a leftist, but often behaves and runs his country in a neoliberal manner, frequently moving against Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.