CUBA, THE PEARL ON THE ANTILLES

The relations between Cuba and India were established on January 12, 1960, and are based on the ties of friendship, respect, collaboration and solidarity that were cemented by the historical leaders of both countries, Fidel Castro Ruz, Ernesto Che Guevara and Jawaharlal Nehru.

- Mr. Alejandro Simancas Marin

India was one of the first countries to recognize the new Cuban government after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959. The visit of Comandante Ernesto Guevera (Che) to India from June 30 to July 4, 1959, and the meeting between Fidel Castro and Jawaharlal Nehru in New York in 1960, laid the foundations of relations between the Governments and peoples of both countries.

We should also mention the visits to Cuba of Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh and more recently the visits to Havana by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2018 and President Miguel Diaz-Canel to New Delhi in 2015, then Vice President. This year we received in Havana the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Culture, Meenakshi Lekhi, while the Cuban Minister for Foreign Trade, Rodrigo Malmierca visited New Delhi.

From the same beginning of the bilateral relations Cuba and India played a relevant role at the world level in the process of decolonization and independence of many nations, in defence of the rights of the peoples and the advancement of the NonAligned Movement, thus contributing to the strengthening of a more just order and the principle of multilateralism. Today both countries maintain a positive level of cooperation in the international and multilateral space, in defense of peace, international law and international solidarity, non-interference in internal affairs, the defense of their culture and national identity and the search for their own models of economic and political development in the interest of greater social justice.

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