Cuba's communist government confirmed on Monday that it had formally requested a “partnership” agreement with the BRICS, a China-led international coalition dedicated to eradicating American influence abroad.
BRICS (named after its early members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) expanded for a second time in January and has since announced the possibility of adding more members. The group was originally called BRICs before the first expansion began in South Africa.
The BRICS coalition is primarily a political alliance, with member parties supporting each other's policies at the United Nations and other international forums. BRICS countries are also supporting each other against sanctions faced by Western countries for various human rights atrocities committed by their governments, and are building parallel economic structures to eliminate the use of the US dollar. are also being discussed. Some member states have also hinted at the possibility of a formal security alliance that could rival U.S. alliances such as NATO.
The group began as a coalition of some of the world's largest and most active economies outside the free world. But the potential economic damage to countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Azerbaijan means that a new wave of would-be members, or perhaps “partners” with slightly lower status than the full members, will be reluctant to join the bloc. There is a risk of threatening stability. The disadvantages of the Union.
Cuba, in particular, is facing a severe economic crisis as a result of more than half a century of communist policies that greatly enriched the ruling Castro dynasty at the expense of the island's other 10 million people. Power outages are now a regular occurrence, gas stations with actual fuel stocked are rare, and the nation's supply of food and other necessities has been unstable for decades, but now It is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain even for the well-connected communist elites.
Despite apparently offering little to the BRICS, Carlos Pereira, a senior official at Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex), acknowledged on Monday that the communist regime is seeking a role in a coalition government.
“Cuba formally requested in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to join BRICS as a 'partner country,'” Pereira said. I wrote “Who will be the interim president of an association that is strengthening its position as a key player in world geopolitics and the aspirations of the Global South,” it said in a statement on social media.
Apart from Victor Coronelli, Russian Ambassador to Cuba Confirmed Recent discussions with Russian media revealed that Cuba intends to send a delegation to the official BRICS summit scheduled for the end of October in Kazan, Russia. The Madrid-based Cuban affairs news agency Diario de Cuba confirmed on Monday that Cuba would: send Miguel Diaz-Canel, the “president” of the sign, climbed to the top. Despite the title “president,” Díaz-Canel remains subordinate to communist dictator Raul Castro.
Ambassador Coronelli said In a recent interview with the Russian news agency TASS, he said he expected Cuba to be interested in “almost all areas of BRICS activity,” but whether incorporating Cuba was in the best interests of the coalition. He warned that other member states would have to evaluate whether this was the case. .
In January, BRICS extended invitations to six countries to become full members: Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia, and Argentina. Argentina began the application process during the government of former Socialist President Alberto Fernández. However, by the time Fernández was invited, the liberal and anti-communist President Javier Millay had taken office, and Millay declined the invitation.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia appeared to have accepted the invitation, but reports circulating in February indicated that Riyadh had not officially formalized its membership in the BRICS, and since then, no significant updates regarding its status have been reported. It has not surfaced publicly.
Diario de Cuba said in a report that the Castro government expects strong competition for membership candidates at this year's BRICS summit, scheduled to begin on October 22. Among those expected to attend the event are leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which recently fought a war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Laos; and Türkiye.
Cuba's closest international ally, Venezuela, has also repeatedly expressed in public its desire to join BRICS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov acknowledged in June that Venezuela was working towards full membership.
Elsewhere in the region, Bolivia, led by socialist President Luis Arce, also announced in June that it would seek to join BRICS by offering its rich lithium natural resources.
Until now, BRICS has prioritized attracting economic powers and countries rich in critical resources. The third wave of member states included major oil producing countries such as Iran and the UAE, among others. Companies currently interested in joining will likely need to provide resources or other assets to be incorporated into the federation. Potential new members offering something unique include Turkey, which is a NATO member but aims to join BRICS.
Most BRICS countries are openly hostile to NATO members, and some have suggested that BRICS could develop into an alternative military alliance. Notably, one of the leaders of NATO countries, Emmanuel Macron of France, suggested that his country may be interested in joining BRICS; reacted with confusion and anger. President Macron has reportedly asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to invite him to the 2023 BRICS summit, which Russia actively opposed. Mr. Macron ultimately did not accept the invitation.
“Yes, we want to be part of the BRICS, so let's see what happens this year,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in June, ignoring Macron's debacle. Turkey, a pro-Islamic state under current strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has received a much warmer reception for potential membership than France.
