Russian Vice President Yuri Borisov (left) with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (right) in Havana   (photo: Ansa).

By Roberto Morejón

The visit of a high-ranking Russian leader to Latin American and Caribbean countries reaffirmed the cooperation ties, although the hegemonic press ignored it.

The vice-president of the Russian government, Yuri Borisov, completed a busy schedule in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, where he met with high-ranking officials and received a warm welcome.

It is not surprising given the close bilateral relations, hence the bad faith of the corporate press in imputing gloomy contours to the trip.

The first attempt to distort the purpose of the trip of the high-ranking Russian official was to place it in the volatile scenario of the confrontation of the United States and its European allies with the Eurasian nation, regarding Ukraine.

In this way, those who twist reality try to pulverize the fact that Russia helped the three countries with vaccines, supplies and health equipment during the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus.

This has been the case with Cuba, where citizens have been pleased and grateful to see the presence of Russian aircraft to alleviate, as far as possible, the negative signal of Covid-19.

Russian assistance, more comprehensive as it is not only for health, contrasts with the opportunistic and devastating blow of the U.S. blockade, intensified by Donald Trump in the midst of the contagion of the virus.

The U.S. president, Joe Biden, broke his campaign promises to relax the siege and made its mark even more cruel among Cubans.

The same people who today point out that even in the midst of the danger that threatens Russia with the pernicious expansion of NATO towards the East, an outstanding leader of that nation went to Caracas, Managua and Havana to increase cooperation.

Cubans are aware of such contingencies, while in some of the streets of their cities run fast Paz buses, fruit of the cooperation between local and Russian technicians prior to the pandemic.

It is true that the vehicles are not able to attenuate the transport problems caused by the consequences of the blockade and Covid-19 on the public coffers, but they represent, together with other government projects, the will to respond to the shortages.

This example -to which others could be added, such as the modernization of a thermoelectric power plant- illustrates the effective cooperation between Cuba and Russia, without being inserted in the resounding drums of war registered today on the planet.