Cuba loses allies – Costa Rica additionally ends relations with the Caribbean island | EUROtoday

A detailed U.S. authorities ally in Latin America, Central American Costa Rica, is chopping diplomatic ties with Cuba. “The government of Costa Rica does not recognize the legitimacy of the communist regime in Cuba,” stated conservative President Rodrigo Chaves. Havana criticized the choice. Costa Rica is becoming a member of the US authorities’s offensive to isolate Cuba from different nations within the area.

In response to human rights violations and repression of opposition activists in Cuba, the Costa Rican embassy in Havana will probably be closed, stated Foreign Minister Arnoldo André. Cuba was requested to withdraw its diplomatic employees from Costa Rica. Only consular officers have been allowed to remain, the minister stated. This makes Costa Rica the second Latin American nation after Ecuador to interrupt off diplomatic relations with Cuba in just below two weeks.

Only just a few nations in Latin America nonetheless actively supported Cuba

Since the revolution in 1959 below Fidel Castro, the Cuban authorities has been a parasite for different nations, criticized Costa Rican President Chaves. Enough is sufficient. “They must recognize that the communist model has failed in Cuba, as it has everywhere where it has been introduced.”

Until the collapse of the Eastern Bloc within the Nineties, Moscow was Cuba’s most necessary financial and political ally. Then oil-rich Venezuela got here to the rescue. However, after the arrest of Venezuelan chief Nicolás Maduro by the US navy on January third, Cuba has misplaced the assist of its South American brother state and oil provider.

Against the backdrop of tensions with Washington, virtually no Latin American nations at the moment are actively supporting the socialist Caribbean state. The exception is Mexico’s left-wing authorities. Recently the area has skilled a shift to the suitable. In nations like Bolivia and Argentina that have been former allies of Cuba, right-wing politicians near US President Donald Trump have come to energy after elections.

Trump threatened to “take over” Cuba

US President Donald Trump lately hinted at a “takeover” of the socialist nation amid tensions between the US and Cuba. The Republican advised reporters on the White House that he believes he can have the distinction of “taking over” Cuba. And additional: “I think I could do whatever I want with it.”

The US President stated of Cuba: “It is a failed state. They have no money, they have no oil, they have nothing. They have beautiful land.” And: “It’s a beautiful island.”