The communist government of Cuba confirmed on Monday that it has formally requested a “partnership” agreement with BRICS, the China-led international coalition dedicated to eradicating American influence abroad.
BRICS – named after its initial members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – expanded for the second time in January and has since publicized the possibility of adding more members. The group was initially referred to as BRIC before its first expansion initiated South Africa.
The BRICS coalition is largely a political alliance in which member parties support each other’s agenda at the United Nations and other international venues. BRICS countries also support each other against sanctions – which several face in the West for various human rights atrocities their governments are committing – and have discussed the creation of a parallel economic structure to eliminate the use of the U.S. dollar. Some members have also floated the possibility of a formal security alliance, potentially rivaling America’s alliances, such as NATO.
The group began as a union of some of the world’s largest and most bustling economies outside of the free world. The new wave of would-be members – or “partners,” presumably a slightly lower status than that of full member – threatens to endanger the stability of the bloc, however, as countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Azerbaijan may bring their economic shortcomings to the coalition.
Cuba, in particular, is facing a severe economic crisis as a result of over half a century of communist policies that greatly enriched the ruling Castro dynasty at the expense of the other ten million people on the island. Electric blackouts are now a regular occurrence, finding gas stations actually stocked with fuel a rarity, and the nation’s food and other basic goods supplies have been precarious for decades, but are now increasingly difficult to maintain even for the well-connected communist elite.
Despite apparently offering little to BRICS, a senior Cuban External Affairs Ministry (Minrex) official, Carlos Pereira, confirmed on Monday that the communist regime is seeking a role in the coalition.
“Cuba has officially requested to be included in BRICS as a ‘partner country’ in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Pereira wrote in a statement on social media, “who is the interim chairman of the association, which is strengthening its position as a key player in global geopolitics and the hope of the Global South.”
The Russian ambassador to Cuba, Viktor Koronelli, separately confirmed in recent discussions with Russian media that Cuba sought to send a delegation to the official BRICS summit scheduled for the end of October in Kazan, Russia. Diario de Cuba, a Madrid-based Cuban affairs outlet, confirmed on Monday that Cuba would send its figurehead “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel to the summit. Despite his title as “president,” Díaz-Canel remains subordinate to communist dictator Raúl Castro.
Koronelli, the ambassador, said in a recent interview with the Russian news agency Tass that he expected Cuba to take interest in “nearly every area of the activities of BRICS,” but issued the caveat that other member states would have to evaluate whether incorporating Cuba was in the coalition’s best interests.
BRICS extended invitations to six nations in January to become full members: Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia, and Argentina. Argentina began the application process during the administration of socialist former President Alberto Fernández. By the time it was invited, however, Fernández had been replaced by libertarian, anti-communist President Javier Milei, who declined the invitation.
Saudi Arabia, in turn, appeared to accept the invitation, but reports circulating in February indicated that Riyadh had not formalized its entry into BRICS, and no significant updates on its status have surfaced publicly since then.
Diario de Cuba noted in its coverage that the Castro regime will have significant competition at this year’s BRICS summit, scheduled to begin on October 22, for potential membership. Among those expected at the event are the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, who recently fought a war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region; Laos; and Turkey.
Cuba’s closest international ally, Venezuela, has also repeatedly stated its desire to join BRICS in public. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed in June that Venezuela was endeavoring to formalize its bid to join.
Elsewhere in the region, Bolivia, led by socialist President Luis Arce, announced in June that it would also seek to join BRICS, offering its plentiful lithium natural resources.
In the past, BRICS has prioritized bringing in large economies or countries with abundant critical resources. The third wave of members notably included some major oil producers, most prominently Iran and UAE. Those currently bidding for membership will likely have to offer either resources or some other asset to incorporate into the coalition. Among the potential new members offering something unique is Turkey, which is seeking to join BRICS while being a member of NATO.
Most BRICS nations are openly hostile to NATO members, and some have suggested BRICS could evolve into an alternative to the military alliance. Notably, one NATO country leader – France’s Emmanuel Macron – suggested that his country may have interest in joining BRICS, to which BRICS members responded with confusion and outrage. Macron reportedly asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to inviting him to the 2023 BRICS summit, which Russia aggressively opposed. Macron ultimately did not receive an invitation.
“Certainly, we would like to become a member of BRICS. So we’ll see how it goes this year,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in June, disregarding the Macron fiasco. Turkey, which has become a pro-jihad Islamist state under current strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has received a far warmer welcome than France to the possibility of joining.
Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.
