Latin America Initiative

The BRICS is more than just about economic relations — it's also a way to diversify and hedge against western influence.

We should expect to see the announcement of a major new multilateral development bank in which the five-member states [BRICS] will each contribute a certain amount of capital — up to $100 billion total over a number of years.

What Cuba hopes to do is regain their historical status as a major transshipment point, mediating international commerce traveling from the Americas and Asia and circling around the Caribbean as far as Europe and eventually the east coast of United States.