Botswana also signed a MoU to engage Cuban medical personnel every two years with a clause not to re-employ them after the completion of their service. Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing who accompanied the President said that his country was looking forward to Cuba’s new offering in the treatment of diabetes through co-operation in providing medical care to its growing diabetic population.

Botswana will also be seeking the Cuban know-how in controlling vector menace through the use of biolarvicides chiefly to mitigate debilitating diseases such as malaria, filariasis and Onchocerciasis. Some studies have indicated the vector-spread diseases had seriously impacted the progress of the African countries by lowering productivity through prolonged sicknesses to their working citizens or their relatives.

On the diplomatic front, the Foreign Minister of Botswana, Phadu Skelernani termed the US embargo against Cuba as “unnecessary”, and appealed for revocation of the sanctions. He was maintaining the rhetoric of his president, who said on the first day of his visit, “Sometimes, in Africa, we receive millions of dollars from rich countries. However, proportionally speaking, Cuba gives us a lot more than anybody else”.

Skelernani and the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Marcelino Medina signed agreement on co-operation and Seakgosing and his Cuban counterpart, Jose Ramon Balaguer signed pact on development of a comprehensive health care system. The trip to Cuba is the Botswanan President’s second one, the last time he visited the island was in 2007 as the Vice-President of his country.

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Although the utterances by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon stand in the way of improving ties between both countries diplomatic developments in the region is likely to override those differences. Clinton told last month that Fidel Castro and his brother President Raul Castro “do not want to see an end to the embargo and do not want to see normalization with the United States, because they would then lose all their excuses for what hasn’t happened in Cuba in the last 50 years.” In retaliation, Alarcon challenged her to lift the embargo even for a year to see whether it was in his country’s interest or hers.

When President Barack Obama assumed office last year he called for better ties with Cuba if Castro executed democratic reforms and improved human rights status, an US policy widely criticized over its double standards in dealing with China and Saudi Arabia at the same time. However, the recent election in Cuba which saw almost 95 percent of the electorate exercising their franchise, technically helps Obama to put in effect one of his poll promises.

The legislation approved by the House does not lift the overall embargo, but prohibits advance payment for agricultural sales to Cuba. Likewise, this week’s election in which Cubans was able to choose between more than one candidate also cannot be termed as a major electoral reform as it does not interfere with the top leadership of the country.

The US rice sales to Cuba declined every year after the Bush administration’s cash-in-advance rules were imposed in 2005. The new provision if ratified is expected to make the US rice and other agro-commodities once again attractive to Cuba. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates the embargo costs the country about $1.2bn a year in lost business.

All trade with Cuba, with the exception of US exports of agricultural products and some essential medicines, has been prohibited since 1962. Under George W Bush, the Cuban-Americans were eligible to travel to Cuba only once every three years and were limited to sending only $300 to relatives every three months. On the contrary, the Obama administration relaxed travel and remittances restrictions that allowed Americans with relatives in Cuba to travel there more frequently with longer stay duration and to send as much money as they want to any Cuban who is not a senior government or Communist party official.

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