Brazilian and Cuban presidents forge trade links

Cuban President Fidel Castro, center, and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, right, answer journalists' questions prior to Silva's departure from Cuba at the International Airport Jose Marti in Havana on Saturday. PHOTO: AFP

Linked for decades as fellow icons of Latin America's left, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Cuba's President Fidel Castro cemented their relationship as they talked business and ignored Cuba's human rights record.

Presiding over Saturday's signing of US$200 million in new business deals in Cuba by private Brazilian enterprises, Castro put his arm around Silva as they talked about future trade between their nations.

"This is an exceptional step for Cuba and Brazil," said Silva, a former labor leader known as "Lula" throughout the region.

"In a globalized world, we must join together ... so we can compete one-on-one with developed nations," Silva said.

Specifics of the agreements were not disclosed, but included US$140 million in deals with Brazilian firms to build four beach resort hotels, Brazilian officials said. Other deals include investment in Cuban sugar and transportation.

Brazilian officials said their country's development bank would provide financing for the investments.

They denied earlier news reports from Brazil that the bank was negotiating a US$400 million credit line for the Cuban government.

"Cuba is very honored," Castro told reporters. "This is the best trip we have had in a long time."

Silva also briefly met Cuba's Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega on Saturday morning, said a presidential spokesman, who declined to provide details.

Castro was at Silva's side during much of his day-and-a-half visit. The Cuban leader greeted the Brazilian president with a hug at the airport when he arrived at noon on Friday, and was at the airport to see him off when he left on Saturday afternoon.

The Brazilian president has toned down his once-radical image and needs to maintain good relations with the US, Brazil's No. 1 trading partner. But as he grows accustomed to his budding role as a leader of regional integration, Silva also clearly wants to maintain good ties with Cuba, which has not had diplomatic relations with the US for more than four decades.

Silva said before he arrived he would not meet with Cuban dissidents or discuss Cuba's human rights record.

Most recently, Cuba was the target of international condemnation for a March crackdown that sent 75 dissidents to prison for terms ranging from six to 28 years.

"I don't give opinions about the internal political conditions of other countries," Silva told reporters in Mexico this week.

On Friday, Silva and Castro oversaw the signing of government accords on health, education, agriculture and fishing.

Also signed was an agreement to re-negotiate Havana's US$40 million debt with Brazil, to be paid back in part with revenue from the island's exports to the Latin American giant.