Cuba: Venezuela out, Russia in

Goodbye Venezuela, hello Russia. Can Vladimir Putin save Cuba?
BY NORA GÁMEZ TORRES AND ANTONIO MARIA DELGADO
DECEMBER 27, 2017 07:20 AM

When Cuban ruler Raúl Castro met recently with Igor Sechin, head of Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil company, it was an intimate gathering, held in the same office from where Castro announced the death of his brother Fidel last year.

No details of the Dec. 16 meeting have emerged so far, but it is now expected that Rosneft will take over Venezuela's stake in the Cuban-Venezuelan refinery in Cienfuegos, in Central Cuba, under an agreement that will favor the island.

Just a few hours before his meeting with Castro, Sechin had met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who awarded two gas exploration contracts to the Russian company.

Castro later announced that he was delaying his retirement from February to April, which would give him enough time to sign an agreement with Rosneft that would help the Cuban economy.

Venezuela's political and economic crisis, plus Cuba's need for foreign investment, have opened the door to a stronger Russian presence in Latin America as part of a geopolitical game that smacks of the Cold War.

“Russia is a much less important economic player in the hemisphere than China. Russia has fewer interests in the Americas, but likes to meddle in what they perceive as our backyard,” said Mark Feierstein, director of Latin American policy in the Obama White House.

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