From our Bureau of Twenty-First Century Neocolonialism with some assistance from our Annals of Apartheid Tourism Bureau
It’s happening. So many Russian tourists are flocking to Cuba that they could soon displace Canadians as the most frequent visitors to the island.
At least, this is what Russian news media is saying. Now that Cuba is owned by Russia, one might expect a bit of hyperbolic propaganda of this sort.
Russia has a lot of catching up to do. Canada used to send over a million tourists to Cuba every year, up until the Covid plague brought travel to a standstill.
But there is no denying that the number of visitors from Canada and other countries has shrunk, the number of Russians has grown.
From Nation World News
From January to October of this year, the visits of Russian tourists to Cuba increased. This information is provided by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).
It is expected that by the end of 2023, the Eurasian country will reach an annual number of 180,000 travelers to the largest of the Antilles. ATOR reported that this year more than 146,000 Russians entered the island.
With this amount, Russia tripled its visitors to the Cuban archipelago, compared to the same period in 2022. Due to this result, the country of Russia is the third source of tourists to Cuba.
The countries that send the most tourists to the island are Canada and the United States. Meanwhile, in the month of May 2023, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Dimitri Chernishenco, commented that his government wants to expand the flow of tourists to Cuba.
The purpose of this goal is to get Russia the top place to send people on vacation to the Caribbean island. Mr. Chernishenco stressed that the Cuban Ministry of Tourism intends to receive half a million Russians annually in the near future.
If the visits from Russia reach that number, they will surpass the records of the Canadians. In June, 1,200 Russian employees of the oil company Rosneft arrived in Cuba.
Canadians have certainly been complicit with Castro, Inc., but that cannot compare with the crucial role the Russians played in subsidizing the regime during its first 30 years. That alone should make Russians too ashamed to spend their vacation money in Cuba now, but of course there is neither shame nor decency.