Cuban East Timorese Relations

Cuban East Timorese Relations

Cuba	East Timor

The states of Cuba and East Timor maintain friendly relations. Both countries are shaped by the Catholic faith and the Iberian culture and have a decades-long struggle for independence behind them.

history

Wall painting by Che Guevara in Baucau / East Timor (2002)

When the left-wing FRETILIN proclaimed East Timor's independence from the colonial power Portugal on November 28, 1975 , Cuba was one of only twelve states that recognized the country. Nine days later, Indonesia began openly invading East Timor and annexed the country the following year. Although this step was not recognized internationally, it was tolerated by the United States , Australia and other western states, since FRETILIN was considered communist and, especially during the Vietnam War, they did not want to risk a “second Cuba” in Southeast Asia. East Timorese politicians in exile had been in close contact with the communist regime in Cuba since the 1970s. For example, Rogério Lobato spent a while in Cuba. After the Indonesians left in 1999, Cuba provided extensive development aid and was the second state after the People's Republic of China to recognize the country when East Timor was restored to independence on May 20, 2002.

East Timor had fewer than 30 doctors after the end of the occupation, which led to a catastrophic medical situation for the population. In 2003 Cuba's President Fidel Castro and East Timor's President Xanana Gusmão met in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , accompanied by his Foreign Minister, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate José Ramos-Horta . Castro promised East Timor to deploy 300 Cuban doctors from the Cuban Medical Brigade and train 1,000 East Timorese doctors in Cuba. In 2004 the Cuban doctors arrived. They were also the only foreign doctors who were not evacuated during the 2006 riots in East Timor but stayed in the country. As recently as 2007, Cubans made up 90% of doctors in East Timor. Several times, Cuban doctors applied for political asylum at the United States Embassy in Dili , which led to minor disputes because East Timor did not send the asylum seekers back to their home country. Over the years, East Timor took over the funding of the Cuban doctors. In January 2020, 157 of them were still working in the Southeast Asian country. By then, 1018 East Timorese have completed their medical training in Cuba. Others are in training in Cuba. The Brigada Médica Cubana was awarded the medal of the Ordem de Timor-Leste on August 30, 2009 .

In 2007 Cuba sent teachers for the “Yo Si Puedo / Yes I can” literacy program. The two ministries of education work together here. The Brigada Cubana de Professores - Assessores de Alfabetização was awarded the medal of the Ordem de Timor-Leste for its services on May 20, 2011.

Cuba also sent agricultural experts, architects, engineers and other experts to East Timor. In 2014, an agreement was reached to build a factory for Labiofan Yogurt in East Timor. In addition, a pharmaceutical factory is to be built there with Cuban help. There are other collaborations in defense, security policy, environmental protection and fire fighting. Many doctors and other experts stayed in East Timor after they finished their service, got married and settled here.

diplomacy

Cuba's Ambassador Omar Lauro Marreto Betancourt to East Timor's President Francisco Guterres (2020)

Deputy Minister of Health of East Timor Élia António de Araújo dos Reis Amaral and Osmany Cantillo Trejo, Cuban Ambassador in Office to East Timor (2019)

Cuba has an embassy in Dili .

See also : List of Cuban Ambassadors in East Timor

East Timor has had an ambassador in Havana since 2008 . Loro Horta , son of José Ramos-Horta, has held the office since 2016.

See also : List of East Timorese Ambassadors in Cuba

Since the restoration of its independence, East Timor has been working internationally to end the US embargo on Cuba . Foreign Minister Ramos-Horta personally worked towards the release of five Cubans from American captivity and suggested the Cuban Medical Brigades for the Nobel Peace Prize.

economy

For 2018, the East Timor statistical office does not indicate any trade relations between East Timor and Cuba.

Others

There are two Cuban restaurants in Dili. The Cuban Reggaeton is in the East Timorese youth very popular and pictures of Che Guevara are widely used on T-shirts, posters and murals in the country. The Kizomba dance , which East Timorese medical students brought with them from Cuba, angered several politicians in 2011. Some called for an "anti-pornography law" against this "immoral dance".

With reference to the creation myth of his country and the shapes of the islands of Cuba and Timor , which resemble crocodiles, East Timor's ambassador to Cuba Loro Horta spoke about the relationship between the two countries of Caiman (Cuba) and Crocodile (East Timor). However, only representatives of the real crocodiles live in Cuba . Caimans are only found on mainland South America .

Web links

Commons : Cuban-East Timorese Relations  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Loro Horta : The Caiman and the Crocodile; Timor Leste and Cuba , Prensa Latina, May 18, 2017 , accessed May 18, 2017.
2. ^ Frédéric Durand: Three centuries of violence and struggle in East Timor (1726-2008). (PDF; 243 kB) Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence, (online), June 7, 2011, accessed on May 28, 2012, ISSN  1961-9898
3. ^ University of Kassel - AG Peace Research: East Timor 1975: USA gave the green light for invasion .
4. ^ Gordon Peake: Rogerio Lobato: From inmate to president? , The interpreter, The Lowy Institute for International Policy, February 15, 2012
5. ^ AFP: In East Timor, food shortages take hold. July 17, 2007 , accessed May 18, 2017.
6. ^ Jill Jolliffe, East Timor stands between Cuba and defecting doctors, Canberra Times, Jan 1, 2008 , accessed May 18, 2017.
7. ↑ ^{a b} President of East Timor: COOPERATION BETWEEN TIMOR-LESTE AND CUBA WILL BE FURTHER DEVELOPED , January 27, 2020 , accessed on February 23, 2020.
8. ↑ Jornal da República: DECRETO PRESIDENTE 25/2009, August 30, 2009, accessed on January 31, 2020.
9. ↑ Jornal da República: Decreto do Presidente da República n ° 34/2011 de 20 Maio , accessed on March 31.
10. ^ Website of the East Timorese government: Timor-Leste Embassies , accessed on April 21, 2016.
11. ↑ Direcção-Geral de Estatística: External Trade Statistics Annual Reports 2018 , accessed on April 17, 2019.
12. ↑ Televizaun Timor-Leste, June 29, 2011: Lasama calls on Timorese medical students to apologize to the public. ( Memento from November 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive )