President Rousseff Celebrates Deal Between USA and Cuba and Sees "Changes in Civilization"

12/18/2014 - 08h56

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff described the reestablishing of a political relationship between the USA and Cuba as a "change in civilization", on Wednesday, December 17th.

These comments were made during a Mercosur summit that took place in the argentine city of Paraná.

Brazil has taken the temporary presidency of the economic block, and the president feels that the deal "shows the importance of this relationship in the region".

"We, social fighters, had thought the moment would never come for the USA and Cuba to reestablish their relationship", the president said, greeting Raúl Castro, Barack Obama and pope Francis, who helped in the negotiations.

According to Dilma, the announcements made by the presidents made her happy because Brazilian politics has been trying to get close to Cuba with "concrete actions" and mentioned the Brazilian investment on Mariel Port, which, she pointed out "was extremely criticized during the electoral campaign this year".

The Brazilian government bet in the strategy of entering Cuba before its economic opening in order to guarantee its presence in the island.

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) has spent US$765m since 2009 in loans to the country, in which it has provided credit for the Cuban government to buy goods and services from Brazilian suppliers.

The biggest symbol of this bet is precisely Mariel Port, 45 kilometers from Havana. It was opened in January and the project was headed by Odebrecht, which received a loan of around US$800m.

In 2013, Cuba was the third biggest destination to BNDES loans for the exportation of Brazilian goods and services.

At the summit, Ms Rousseff said she believes in the possibility of bringing the commercial embargo on Cuba to an end and in the country's condition to "get along once again with the international community, something that is extremely relevant to the Cuban people and all of Latin America".

The expectation is that, alongside the island's economic opening, which can be accelerated with a stable relationship with the USA, Cuba may become a platform for exports given its strategic location.

After the dredge project is finished, the port will be able to receive large vessels such as the Super Post Panamax directly from Panama Port, which Ms Rousseff mentioned many time during the Celac summit this year.

During her speech at the Mercosur summit, Ms Rousseff cried as she said goodbye to the Uruguaian president José Mujica, who also took part in the last summit.

"I would like to speak directly to my comrade 'Pepe' Mujica to express my gratitude and the privilege of having met him and having had his friendship", she said.

At the beginning of the month as he received freed Guantanamo bay prisioners in his country, Mujica demanded that three Cuban spy were freed from the USA, where they have been since 1998.

The USA freed other secret agents from the island that had been in jail in Florida since 1981.

Translated by CRISTIANE COSTA LIMA

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