Lula Weighs Cuba Debt as Brazil Pushes to Revive Relations



Samy Adghirni
Thu, June 22, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is assessing how much money Cuba owes his country as the two nations push to normalize relations after years of frozen ties, a senior Brazilian official said.

Lula met with his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel on the sidelines of a global finance summit in Paris on Thursday. Brazil plans to send a business delegation to Cuba, according to the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to an email and phone call seeking comment. Cuba’s embassy in Washington said it currently had no news to share about the issue.

Ties between Brazil and Cuba turned sour in 2016, when the communist regime withdrew its ambassador in Brasilia to protest the impeachment of then-President Dilma Rousseff, who like Lula is a member of the leftist Workers’ Party.

Relations further deteriorated after far-right Jair Bolsonaro became Brazil’s president in 2019, although they were never fully cut off.

The lack of political ties deepened Brazil’s struggle to recover hundreds of millions of dollars it lent Cuba through its development bank, BNDES. Brazilian loans helped Cuba build its flagship Mariel port. The exact amount of Cuba’s debt is unclear.

The push for bilateral normalization started after Lula, who previously served as president from 2003 to 2010, returned to Brazil’s top office in January. The Cuban embassy in Brasilia now has an ambassador, and Brazil’s Senate approved Lula’s new envoy to Havana in late May.

--With assistance from Jim Wyss and Daniel Carvalho.