Havana, Feb 7 (EFE).- The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, today valued his “intense, but necessary” visit to Cuba and defended the need to maintain “good relations” with the Cuban Government to be “at the side » of the descendants of Canarians on the island.
In an interview with EFE at the end of his visit to Cuba, Torres highlighted the potential to strengthen bilateral ties in trade, tourism, cooperation and the fight against climate change, also thinking about the well-being of the Canarians on the island, the largest community canary abroad
«It has been an intense visit, but necessary. I would have wanted to come earlier, but we have had a legislature with too many convulsions, “she said, referring to the upturn in the migratory phenomenon, the pandemic, the La Palma volcano and the war in Ukraine.
€100,000 OF DIRECT AID
The Canarian president explained that a special plan of 100,000 euros in direct aid for Canarians in Cuba has been launched that will benefit 1,500 families and with which it is possible to purchase medicines to close investments in infrastructure.
He also recalled that the Canarian Executive has approved an item of about 300,000 euros in humanitarian aid for the Cuban Government: “This is important, due to the difficult times that Cuba and the Canarians living in Cuba are experiencing.”
«I think that what a president of the Canary Islands has to do is treat all the canaries the same. In the same way that I go to any municipality of the eight islands and talk to my countrymen, we have many countrymen in America, we are talking about tens of thousands. More than 65,000 canaries live in Cuba and my obligation is always to be by my side,” he argued.
Regarding criticism of human rights violations in Cuba and Venezuela, the second leg of his Latin American tour, Torres stressed his interest in helping the descendants of Canarians in those countries.
“Without disdaining any criticism that can be made in this regard, the importance of good relations must always be put on the table, especially when we are talking about people who live in those places that are canaries,” he said.
TRAVEL TO MOROCCO
The Canarian president also explained that he plans to make the “traditional visit” to Morocco of all his predecessors shortly, a “healthy custom” that until now he had not been able to do for “supervening causes.”
Torres did not want to advance dates, pending “closing it well”, but stressed that it will be a “business and commercial” visit as well as an institutional one, linked to the “permanent business and economic flow.”
«A large group of Canarian businessmen and businesswomen will accompany me, no less than 20, because we have a special relationship with Morocco. We have many Canarian companies in Morocco and many Moroccan companies are also in the Canary Islands”, he indicated.
During this visit, the migration issue, key in the bilateral relationship, will also be addressed. In this sense, he considered “very important” that in Europe an Asylum and Migration Pact be achieved “as soon as possible” and preferably “before the legislature ends” in Spain in December 2023.
“There must be a joint action in solidarity,” said Torres, who pointed out the particularities of the border territories, such as the Canary Islands.
BILATERAL COOPERATION
The “very intense agenda” with ministers, deputy ministers, a deputy prime minister and a vice president in Havana served to draw up a list of potential areas of cooperation between the Canary Islands and Cuba, which a working commission must now specify.
Among them is the implementation of a trade protocol -similar to those in force with autonomous communities such as Andalusia or the Basque Country- and the possibility of expanding connectivity between the archipelago and the Caribbean island.
“We have strengthened ties between the Cuban government and the Canary Islands government,” Torres said.
Finally, he described the exchange with descendants of Canarians as “amazing” and promised to contribute to “a more profound remodeling” of the dilapidated Casa Canaria in Havana.
«Everyone with a particular story to tell, longing for that island land that is so far away, which is ours. I have felt like a canary who is in Cuba and who has the two peoples very present, “he said. EFE