Above: Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin lays a wreath at the memorial of national hero Jose Marti in Havana (Photo: GC)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Russia is writing off about $32 billion of Cuba’s outstanding debt, the two countries announced this weekend.

The debt dates back to the Soviet era, and the move amounts to a write-off of 90 percent of the outstanding debt, Cuba said in a statement.

It amounts to just under $32 billion USD of a total of $35 billion, according to Cuba’s government and came according to an agreemnet signed last year.

The other 10 percent will materialize in “Russian investments on Cuban soil,” according to President Raul Castro.

Speaking after talks with President Vladimir Putin, Cuba’s Raul Castro said he “welcomed” the decision to cancel most of the Cuban debt and expressed “confidence that the ties between the two states would increase and strengthen hereafter.”