The ship HMCS Margaret Brookepatrol vessel of the Royal Canadian Navy, arrived at the port of Havana this Friday, in a visit that coincides with a period of high military activity in the region.
This event comes just hours after the United States announced that its nuclear submarine USS Helena had docked at the Guantánamo naval base, and following the arrival of Russian warships and a nuclear submarine to the island earlier this week.
The HMCS Margaret Brooke, a ship of the Royal Canadian Navy, began its maneuvers early on Friday to enter the port of the Cuban capital. She had not visited the island since 2016, when was in Havana just in the week in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an official visit to Cuba.
According to the Canadian Joint Operations Command, this visit is carried out “in recognition of the long-standing bilateral relationship between Canada and Cuba.”
During their stay, the Canadian crew has scheduled activities that include courtesy visits to the head of the Cuban Revolutionary War Navy and the Governor of Havana, as well as tours of places of historical and cultural interest.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this week the arrival of the canadian navy ship and the arrival on Saturday, June 15, in Santiago de Cuba, of the training ship “Simón Bolívar”, from Venezuela.
The visit by military vessels takes place in a context of notable international tension. On Wednesday, Russian ships, including the Almirante Gorshkov frigate and the Kazán nuclear-powered submarine, arrived in Havana after carrying out exercises with high-precision missiles in the Atlantic.
Russia described these movements as routine and assured that they do not represent a threat to the region.
For its part, the United States Southern Command reported that the nuclear submarine USS Helena had arrived at Guantanamo Bay. They assured that the location and transit of the ship were previously planned.
Canadian authorities indicate that the arrival of the HMCS Margaret Brooke was a routine operation and unrelated to the presence of the Russian ships and the American submarine.
Despite the temporal and geographic proximity of these military movements, both the United States and Cuba have indicated that Russian warships do not pose a threat.
The confluence of ships from Canada, Russia and the United States in Cuba, just 160 kilometers from Florida, has evoked memories of the Cold War and highlights current tensions between Russia and Western countries due to the war in Ukraine.
The Russian warships are expected to remain in Havana port until June 17, coinciding with the departure of HMCS Margaret Brooke. The visit of the USS Helena to Guantánamo will also be until similar dates.
