HAVANA: The US negotiator for normal diplomatic ties with Cuba was due to return to Havana on Sunday -- just as thousands rally to support close ally Venezuela in a mounting row with Washington.
Roberta Jacobson, the top US diplomat for Latin America, is following up on the historic breakthrough announced in December that Cold War foes the United States and Cuba will seek to normalize relations after five decades of bad blood.
Cuba, the Americas' only one-party communist-run state, is socialist Venezuela's closest regional partner. Venezuelan aid props up the centrally planned Cuban economy.
But Venezuela's economy is also in trouble and despite sitting atop the world's largest oil reserves, the country has slipped into economic crisis, with record high inflation and shortages of even the most basic needs, such as milk, toilet paper or diapers.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blames the United States and has accused Washington of supporting a coup to oust him.
Even as it draws closer to the United States, authorities in the Cuban capital Havana organized a concert on the steps of the University of Havana later Sunday "to support the Bolivarian (Venezuelan) people and government... for peace, justice and Latin American unity."
Artists will show support for the Venezuelan people "suffering under the recent aggressive (US) escalation," one of the organizers told the Juventud Rebelde newspaper.
It was not immediately clear how the noisy show of Venezuelan support would impact talks Monday between Jacobson and Cuban counterpart Josefina Vidal.
Comments
Comments are closed.