On this visit, in which he exchanges with the people and authorities of Pinar del Río, the Cuban leader is accompanied by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil Fernández.

At the provincial headquarters of the PCC, Díaz-Canel was received by Army Corps General Ramón Espinosa Martín; the member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee Félix Duarte Ortega; the first secretary of the Party in Pinar del Río, Yamilé Ramos Cordero, and the governor of the province, Rubén Ramos Moreno.

The tour of the Cuban president began in Consolación del Sur, where more than 20,000 homes were affected. There, the electricity service has been restored to 25% of the clients and more than 300 Cubans from various provinces help in the recovery.

In Consolación, Díaz-Canel exchanged with the residents. He also shared with the pioneers at the Francisco Valdés Ramos school, in the Piloto town, in that municipality.

This meeting took place in the context of the stay of the also Minister of Economy and Planning of Cuba during his visit to Caracas since last August 24, where he developed a broad work agenda, the Presidency reported on his web portal. .

During his visit to this capital, Gil also met with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez in order to review the progress of bilateral relations, exchanged with officials from the island’s embassy here about the Cuban reality and shared with collaborators at the Center Salvador Allende Comprehensive Diagnosis.

Vice President Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Caribbean, Raúl Li Causi, and the head of the Central Bank of Venezuela, Calixto Ortega, attended the meeting at the Miraflores Palace on the Venezuelan side.

The president of the Development and Export Bank and the Venezuelan Foreign Trade Corporation, Héctor Obregón, also participated, the source said.

On the Cuban side, Dagoberto Rodríguez, the island’s ambassador here, and Roberto López, deputy minister of Foreign Trade and technical secretary of the Cuba-Venezuela Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement, attended.

Both countries maintain an extensive exchange of cooperation in different sectors that include health, economy, education, sports, communication, food, science and energy.

The Comprehensive Cuba-Venezuela Cooperation Agreement emerged in October 2000 at the initiative of commanders Fidel Castro (1926-2016) and Hugo Chávez (1954-2013) under the principles of solidarity, brotherhood and complementarity.

In its two decades of implementation, it has been strengthened despite the challenges imposed by the US blockade against both States, increased in recent years with new coercive measures that violate the principles of international law and the peaceful coexistence of peoples.

Official data from the island revealed that up to October of last year, official cooperation projects amounted to 1,487, and more than 255,000 collaborators served on the land of Simón Bolívar.

On May 10, Maduro reported on a creative and profound refounding of the cooperation map between the two countries to expand mutual support 2022-2030.

(With information from PL)

As part of this process, the purchase of foreign currency began on August 4, at a different exchange rate than the official one.

The Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, and the Minister President of the Central Bank of Cuba, Marta Sabina Wilson González, appear this Monday at the Round Table to report on the implementation of the exchange market in Cuba.

Tomorrow the sale of foreign currency begins in the country
Gil Fernández recalled that this Tuesday marks 20 days since the beginning of the purchase of foreign currency, and reiterated that it is not a foreign exchange market, because it involves transactions in both directions (purchase and sale).

“It is appreciated that the results correspond to the proposed objectives, of having a level of purchase of the limited foreign currency that is entering the country, due to the fact that there is still not a large influx of tourists and due to the effects of the blockade on remittances” commented the minister.

However, he pointed out that the purchase “is incomparably superior compared to what was compared before the measure”, and stressed that advantages such as legality in transactions are recognized.

“This validates the step we took, because we have incorporated a level of foreign currency into the country’s financial system higher than the amounts that were being purchased prior to the purchase decision at an exchange rate of 1×120.

“It is an important step, part of a process, whose results so far are seen as favorable,” he said.

“We never expected that there would be a rush of people to sell their currencies to banks. We always said that it is a process that advances gradually, and that one of its incentives is the increase in the offer in Cuban pesos”, which is part of the strategy.

Gil Fernández acknowledged that there is still no supply level, and that the currency is accepted in the country to consume internally. “Euros can be banked and access to goods and services in freely convertible currency; therefore, not all currencies have to be redeemed.

“Not all the currency that the national financial system is buying is cash in cadecas and banks, since there is a set of transactions that are made electronically, among them the transfers from abroad that are credited to the accounts in CUP, and the transactions through ATMs.

He recalled that the initial objective of this first stage is to divert to the national financial system a level of foreign currency that was known to be operating in the informal market, resources that the country needs to advance in the gradual recovery of the economy.

One of the favorable aspects of the measure is the environment of legality that it generates. “Most people want to operate legally, including foreign visitors. Nobody goes to a country to commit an illegal action. The same thing happens with Cubans who obtain foreign currency through various means,” said the minister.

“This fight we are in for the recovery of the economy belongs to everyone. People know that when they make the exchange in a banking institution, they are depositing those resources based on the socioeconomic development of the country”.

He clarified that previously these operations could also be done legally, which at the 1×24 exchange rate, which did not generate incentives in the face of a higher informal exchange rate.

Starting tomorrow, he announced, the sale of foreign currency will begin, in order to continue advancing in the construction of the foreign exchange market.

“We will gradually take steps in that direction, which we will then be able to deepen, with the aim of achieving a market that allows the legal exchange of currency in the country, and moving forward to give the national currency greater purchasing power in the country. functioning of the economy”.

(Cubadebate Editorial Team)