Vilma Thomas has been the Ambassador of Cuba to Ethiopia since November 2017. This is her first posting as Ambassador, although, she had worked in Africa before. She is a diplomat by profession, with 26 years carrier experience. She has experience in bilateral and multilateral postings and has acquired valuable knowledge in both.
She is grateful for the welcoming attitude of the Ethiopian people and government toward her country, her Embassy and herself. In collaboration with her colloquies, she looks forward to contributing her due towards strengthening the relations between the two countries.
Regarding the activities of Cuba embassy, she has just a stay with the Ethiopian Herald. She will shed light about the ongoing process and her country’s relations with Ethiopia. Excerpt:
Herald: What have been the missions and objectives of the embassy since its establishment?
Ambassador Vilma: Diplomatic relations between Cuba and Ethiopia were formally established on 22 July 1975.We established respective representations, at the Embassies level, in August 1976.
Since then and to date, our diplomatic representation in Ethiopia has the purpose of fostering, contributing to strengthening and expanding relations between the two countries. We promote the exchange at the governmental level, the signing of agreements, the establishment of coordination mechanisms and coordination of positions in different fields, among others.
We also foster links between our peoples, through cultural, sports, and other exchanges with social impact. This helps Ethiopians learn more about Cuba, its culture, its traditions and its people. Obviously, we also promote cooperation in those areas where Cuba has comparative advantages and capabilities, which can serve Ethiopia according to its developmental needs.
As part of this, for example, we have maintained annually the allocation of scholarships to Ethiopian students to study in Cuba, in different specialties, mainly medicine, and the presence of doctors and other Cuban health professionals has been maintained in several health institutions in Ethiopia.
The Embassy also channels interests of Ethiopian entities that want to do business with Cuba and also serve as a bridge to Cuban companies interested in offering their products and services in the Ethiopian market.
Herald: What supports could the Cuba Embassy offer to further strengthen Ethio- Cuba bilateral ties?
Ambassador Vilma: first of all, we have the will of the Government of Cuba to strengthen and expand bilateral relations, within the means at our disposal.
Although Cuba is a small country, in size and population, it is geographically distant from Ethiopia and does not have large economic and financial resources; those elements have never been obstacles to offer and provide our cooperation to Ethiopia and other countries, within the framework of our possibilities. Cuba does not give what is left over, but shares what it has, without imposing any conditioning on such aid.
On the other hand, we have the support of a community of Ethiopians graduated in Cuba, who know and love Cuba. In our country they were welcomed with love by our people and were educated in our schools and universities.
They are very good Ambassadors of Cuba in Ethiopia. They are in a better position to explain the realities of Cuba from their experiences. We are also proud and grateful of the fact that they also defend Cuba with as much passion as those who were born in it.
Around 5,000 Ethiopians have gone to study in Cuba over these more than 40 years. Many of them live in Ethiopia and work in multiple spheres. Some of them are charged with important political or business responsibilities.
They, together with the Cuban community that lives in Ethiopia, which is not very large, are an important support for the efforts that the Embassy makes to make sure that the reality of Cuba is known in Ethiopia and that our bilateral relations move forward and strengthen.
Finally, it is an important source of support to our work the positive and supportive attitude of the Ethiopians towards Cuba. Everywhere we go, in any meeting we attend, the first words are of thanks to Cuba, for the support provided to Ethiopia during the Ogaden War, in which thousands of Cubans fought and 162 were killed, fighting alongside the Ethiopians in defense of the territorial integrity of this country.
Cuba supported Ethiopia selflessly. Cuba did not ask for anything in return and took nothing from this brotherly country, except the remains of its fallen soldiers. This attitude of solidarity and selflessness marked and differentiated the relations between Cuba and Ethiopia, which, as many Ethiopians recognize, were sealed with the blood shed by men from our two countries, fighting together for a common goal of the defense of Ethiopia.
Herald: What kind of tasks does the Cuba embassy in Ethiopia do to benefit the members and the community at large?
Ambassador Vilma: The Embassy, as mentioned before, has the mission to contribute to the improvement of the relations between Cuba and Ethiopia. Among the most recent developments, during my tenure, the Embassy has encouraged the increase of high-level links between the two countries.
During the period I have been here, we have to facilitate several visits to Ethiopia by Cuban delegations, mainly from the health, education, sports, scientific and technical development sectors, as well as high-level delegations.
Let me highlight among them, the visit to Cuba of former President of Ethiopia, Dr. Mulatu Teshome in January 2018 and the visit to Ethiopia of the Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa in May 2019.
This exchange of delegations contribute to the promotion of bilateral exchanges, the signing of agreements and cooperation, as well as the provision of a space for the strengthening of relations and consultation on issues of common interest.
Another important area for our work in Ethiopia is the support to the cooperation that Cuba offers. Currently, Cuban doctors provide services in health institutions in Addis Ababa and Jimma, in the latter they combine their care work with teaching at Jimma University.
Cuban advisers were also working for 2 years at the Institute of Technical and Vocational Training of Ethiopia (TVETI), to contribute to the development of technical education in this country.
The work of Cuban cooperators is highly valued and recognized, not only institutionally but by the Ethiopian people. They serve with total dedication and commitment. Currently, there are five Ethiopians, studying in Cuban Universities, through the scholarship program the Embassy coordinates, alongside the relevant Ethiopian institutions.
The Embassy also fosters the signing of cooperation agreements between our countries. Those agreements establish the legal framework for the development of actions in that area, in addition to identifying the needs of the Ethiopian side and the capabilities that Cuba has to meet them.
A cooperation agreement in the area of health between Cuba and Ethiopia was recently signed for this purpose. Other agreements are also under negotiation, to promote regular exchanges between our
foreign Ministries, sports development, favoring the presence of Cuban products from the biotechnology sector in Ethiopia, among others.
The Embassy also promotes in Ethiopia all the potential that Cuba has in various sectors and channels the interests that may arise from Ethiopian counterparts, whether governmental or private, with the corresponding Cuban entities.
We also sponsor cultural exchange with Ethiopia. Cuban popular music and dances are known in Ethiopia and many Ethiopians dance and enjoy our music without having ever visited our country.
In 2018, the Ethiopian community organized a day of solidarity with Cuba, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Karramara, which was attended by a Cuban musical group that made many Ethiopians dance during their presentations.
We work with the aim that the presence of our culture, which goes beyond music, can increase in Ethiopia. Recently, we organized a tasting of Cuban food at the Getfam Hotel in Addis Ababa, which had a very good acceptance among the Ethiopians.
All of it shows that there is a space to continue expanding what we do, so that our culture and traditions are more present in Ethiopia.
Herald: What are the challenges the Cuba embassy faced regarding in not fully realizing its goals?
Ambassador Vilma: The main challenge we have is to maintain an active presence in Ethiopia with the limited financial resources available to Cuba.
Unfortunately, our economic situation, aggravated by the negative effect of 60 years of the US economic blockade against Cuba, does not allow us to make large investments in Ethiopia, or donate large resources, although we have never failed to respond with what we have, when Ethiopia have requested our help.
We also face the challenge that cooperation and contracting of services between both countries are affected by the obstacles imposed by the United States blockade to make payments to Cuban companies for the services they offer.
The United States blockade of Cuba is an extraterritorial measure that affects the normal commercial exchange and financial relations of Cuba, not only with the United States, but with the rest of the world.
This blockade affects the flow of resources to and from Cuba through banking institutions, which have any degree of affiliation with United States banks and prohibits the use of the dollar in our transactions.
Cuba has a lot to offer, especially in the field of health, biotechnology, animal medicine among others. Our country has developed unique products in the world to fight lung cancer, amputations of the diabetic foot, vitiligo, HIV / AIDS, meningococci B and C, among others.
It also has effective medicines for animal medicine, such as the vaccine against ticks of cattle, against porcine cholera, for crop protection, among others.
The challenge we have is to facilitate that Ethiopia can also have access to those advances, in a mutually advantageous South-South exchange and cooperation scheme, which will not be affected by the negative impact of the blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States.
Herald: How far the Cuba embassy in Ethiopia has been doing pertaining to people-to-people connectivity between the two countries?
Ambassador Vilma: as I mentioned, we organize various activities that contribute to a better and greater knowledge of Cuba in Ethiopia. We have organized exhibitions of historical photos about Cuba at the Addis Ababa Museum, an exhibition of Cuban films in cinemas in the capital; we recently organized a tasting of Cuban food also in Addis.
Last year in coordination with the association of graduates in Cuba from Ethiopia, the ethio-cubans, we supported the realization of a one-week program of activities to recognize Cuba’s support for Ethiopia in the fight for its territorial integrity, which also served to present to the Ethiopian public a varied sample of our culture and popular traditions.
The link between our peoples is also evident through the thousands of Ethiopians trained in Cuba, who with their daily actions show what they learned in our country, not only from the point of view of their professional knowledge, but also in terms of ethics and commitment with their people.
This community of graduates in Cuba, who are known as the ethio-cubans, also generates multiple activities to promote the knowledge about Cuba among the Ethiopian public. Those activities count with our Embassy´s supports and the participation of the Cuban community living in Ethiopia.
It is surprising that despite the time lapse since the 1980s, when there was a greater presence of Cubans in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian people still have positive memories of Cuban fighters, which is evidenced in the love with which they receive us in the states that we visit and in the contacts we hold.
It also represents an important contribution in the connection between the citizens of both countries, the work that Cuban doctors have done for years and are still doing in Ethiopia, leaving thousands of lives saved in this country, especially among the poorest populations.
This explains the recognition we receive, everywhere we go, for the dedication of our doctors to the work of improving the quality of life of the people they care for, in Ethiopia.
Herald: does the Cuba embassy in Ethiopia have any contribution for the capacity building of the youth and socio-economic improvement of the community of Ethiopia?
Ambassador Vilma: Yes, we do. The Government of Cuba through the Embassy offers every year scholarships to the Government of Ethiopia in order to train Cuba students mainly as doctors.
This is a program that has been running for a long time. It started during the 70´s, when Cuba received thousands of young Ethiopians that were trained in different fields in our country and many of them even until university level. They studied in Cuba totally free of any charge for their family and the Ethiopian government.
Due to economic constrains, Cuba has been facing in the recent years, the program has to downsize, because it does not only include Ethiopians but people from all over the world, mainly coming from families that do not have resources to send their kids to universities.
Although it is expensive for Cuba, to maintain the free scholarship program, for students from low-income families around the world, the Cuban Government has decided to maintain the program, as a sign of its willingness to help the training of young people from different countries and make a contribution to the development of other countries of the South.
The economic difficulties we face, however, have imposed the need to reduce the number of scholarships granted as part of the program, preserving the principle that the majority of the countries that need it most, can continue to receive the benefits of the program.
Given the above, the number of scholarships we give to Ethiopia has decreased, but the program is still in force and new scholarships are granted annually.
Just 2 days ago, we commemorated in Cuba the 20th anniversary of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), an institution that has graduated almost 30 thousand specialists from more than 100 nations of all latitudes.
Herald: What life essences do the Cuba people want to share with Ethiopians?
Ambassador Vilma: We Cubans are cheerful and optimistic people. We have faced and still face great economic difficulties, in the daily lives of our families and in the access to material goods that are often scarce due to the economic difficulties that our country is experiencing.
However, we have faced all these challenges with the confidence that we can overcome them, if we work hard and if we unite to fight for a common cause.
Unity to overcome any difficulty is essential to the way of living and acting of the Cubans, because we know that we would never have achieved what we have, free health, free education, very low unemployment rate and other impressive social results alongside great development in science and technology, tourism and other economic fields; if we had not done so by gathering the wills of the majority of our people and work together to obtain them.
We are a people proud of our history and what we have achieved. Patriotism and sense of nationhood are very high in the list of elements that define the essence of the Cubans.
We are also fervent critics of what is not done well and and we strive to change everything that needs to be changed or could be done better.
Contrary to what some media’s portrait about Cubans, we constantly debate and discuss about almost everything from politics to sports. We defend our opinions with passion, at all levels and make our voice heard and be taken into account, as it was demonstrated among others through the recent popular debate around the draft of the new Constitution of the country recently adopted.
The Cuban people proposed thousands of changes to the original draft Constitution, subject to popular debate, which led to the modification of about 60 percent of the text.
This modified draft with the opinions of the population was subsequently submitted to a popular referendum and approved by 86.85 percent of Cubans residing in the country, before being adopted by our national assembly. We make sure our opinions and votes are taken into account through our institutions and mechanism for popular participation.
I think it is important to add that for us, the culture of debate is not at odds with the sense of unity and there is a common understanding that even when there are differences, we can work through them and find a common ground.
We never lose sight of the fact that if we let division take the best of us, we will lose the most precious thing for us, the preservation of our country and the society that we are building for a better life for present and future generations.
Herald: Tell us about the ongoing projects of the Cuba embassy in Ethiopia?
Ambassador Vilma: we work with the Ethiopian authorities to expand our cooperation in the areas of health. The purpose is that our cooperation will not be limited to the presence of Cuban professionals in health institutions of this country, as we have today, but that it can be expanded to include training of human resources in the sector, exchange of experiences in primary health care programs and in other programs successfully developed in Cuba for the control or elimination of specific diseases, among other areas of interest for Ethiopia.
We are also supporting projects in the area of vaccine production and others linked to the possibility that the Ethiopian people might have access to medical products that are produced in Cuba, some of them the only ones of its kind in the world for the successful treatment of some diseases.
We have also expressed the willingness to work in partnership with Ethiopia on the areas of higher education, basic education, science and technology, tourism development, agriculture, among others. We are ready but any project in this regard will depend on the interest and the decisions from the relevant Ethiopian authorities.
Herald: Does the embassy work on cultural diplomacy? If yes, brief us about that?
Ambassador Vilma: I prefer to talk about cultural cooperation and yes, the Embassy is willing to support cooperation projects in the cultural field, aimed at fostering a better mutual knowledge about our respective cultural heritage and traditions.
Taking into account, the geographical distance between our countries and the costs associated with travel between Cuba and Ethiopia, cultural activities are often limited by financial restrictions.
However, I firmly believe that there is a way when there is a will, so we can always find ways of reducing costs, through enlisting the support of sponsors, or implementing creative solutions to lower some costs, among others.
In Cuba, there are many cultural festivals throughout the year and some of them are dedicated to the promotion of the African culture. I hope that one day, not far away, we can count with a cultural representation from Ethiopia in some of them.
Herald: what are the future prospects the embassy aspire to achieve?
Ambassador Vilma: we would work to implement the cooperation agreements we have and the prospect of cooperation in health, education, sports, science and technology, among others.
We would like Ethiopia to know more about what Cuba has to offer, either in terms of medicines and products of our medical and biotechnology centers, which can make a huge contribution to the treatment of some health problems that affect part of the population of the country.
We would like Ethiopians to know about all the health treatments available in Cuba at affordable prices, in first class health institutions and with highly skill professionals.
Our health care options in Cuba, which include the modality of health tourism, which allows the patient to receive medical treatment and at the same time enjoy the tourism offers we offer in facilities dedicated to this purpose.
Sometimes Ethiopians know Cuba through a lens that is some decades old. The country has changed for the best and has a lot of tourist options worth appreciating and enjoying.
This year we are commemorating the 500 anniversary of Havana, the capital of Cuba. We have just received the visit of the King and Queen of Spain for the occasion and many important personalities from all over the world have been invited to celebrate with the Cuban people for this important occasion.
Cuba has put on a huge effort to honor its capital and present the world our country in all its glory and beauty, full of places to visit not only for touristic purpose but also to know about the past and present of our people who work and strive, but also sing, dance and laugh, with confidence that we move forward and will overcome the challenges that lie ahead.
We want Cuba, a country that is not perfect, but that struggles to improve itself, according to its own rules; to be better known by the Ethiopians, whom we consider brothers and with whom we are always be willing to cooperate.
Herald: at last, you are welcome to convey your message?
Ambassador Vilma: I do not want to end this interview without thanking the Government and people of Ethiopia for the support provided to Cuba at the recent session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, in our call to lift the US blockade against our country.
The Cuban resolution against the blockade had the support of 187 countries of the world, among them Ethiopia. The Cuban people are deeply grateful to each one of the countries of the world that remained on the side of truth and justice. We Cubans thank from the bottom of our hearts for the solidarity of our Ethiopian brothers and sisters.
The Ethiopian Herald Sunday Edition 24 November 2019
BY MEHARI BEYENE
