Under Nehru, India was among the first to recognise Cuba, and ties strengthened during Indira's tenure.

Fidel Castro hugged Indira Gandhi in the spring of 1983 at the Non-Aligned Movement summit here, symbolising his warm ties with India which always looked to the legendary leader as a “great friend”.

Under Jawaharlal Nehru, India was among the first countries to recognise Cuba after the 1959 revolution led by Castro, who overthrew the Fulgencio Batista regime. Unmindful of the U.S. sanctions on Communist Cuba starting from the Cold War era, India always maintained political, trade, cultural and people-to-people relations with that country. It was Nehru who had reached out to the Cuban icon and told him that the non-aligned nations saw his leadership with immense hope.

The ties established then were strengthened during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister.

Unforgettable hug

The bond of India-Cuba friendship is best symbolised by the unforgettable image of Castro embracing Indira Gandhi while handing over the NAM chairmanship to her in 1983 in New Delhi.

“Today, while handing over, after more than three years, the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement to our admired Indira Gandhi and to India, that she in her historic right represents, we can affirm that we have a movement whose unity was not weakened, whose vigour has grown, whose independence has been withheld despite all the challenges it faced...,” he had said at the time.

Castro and Indira Gandhi had met on several occasions in the past. In September 1973, she hosted a dinner for him in Delhi when he was on his way to Vietnam.

Rajiv’s visit

Another landmark visit happened in August 1985, when then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Cuba and held extensive discussions with Castro.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also visited Cuba in 2006 while Vice-President Hamid Ansari met Castro during a visit to Cuba in October 2013.

Mr. Ansari’s 65-minute long meeting with Castro reflected the warmth in the relationship between India and Cuba, two of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The meeting was the first time in a long time that the Cuban leader met a foreign dignitary.

There have been numerous instances of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Timely help

In December 1992, while Cuba was passing through severe economic difficulties, India provided 10,000 tonnes of wheat and 10,000 tonnes of rice. Castro termed the donation as the ‘Bread of India’.

In 2008, India wrote off the principal and interest of $62 million, equivalent to Rs. 1.28 billion debt owed to India.

India also granted an aid of $2 million as disaster relief to Cuba in the wake of massive devastation caused by the hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma during August and September 2008. — PTI