Royal Canadian Navy led conga lines in Havana as part of ‘deterrence’ visit to Cuba, photos show

Photos posted on social media by Canada’s embassy in Cuba show a Royal Canadian Navy band member leading conga lines during a performance in downtown Havana, interactions that cast doubt on Defence Minister Bill Blair’s description of a warship port visit as a deterrent to Moscow.

The Canadian government has come under criticism for making a friendly three-day naval stop in Cuba, a staunch ally of Russia which is also reportedly allowing China to build a spy base on the island.

The port visit by Canadian warship HMCS Margaret Brooke came after American and Canadian warships and surveillance planes had been tracking a Russian naval flotilla through the Atlantic Ocean as it conducted military exercises. The Russian naval vessels, including a frigate and nuclear-powered submarines, had been dispatched to Cuba after a warning from President Vladimir Putin that Moscow might arm countries to hit Western targets, in response to Ukraine’s allies allowing Kyiv to strike targets inside of Russia.

Mr. Blair’s office earlier this week told reporters that Canada did not consider Cuba an ally and the Defence Minister himself defended the port visit – something normally reserved for friendly nations – as intended to send a message to Russia.

“Presence is deterrence. We were present,” he told reporters Monday.

In a June 17 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Canadian embassy published photos of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) entertaining people. “Musicians from the RCN’s Naden Band took time this weekend to play music for an appreciative crowd in Plaza de Armas in front of the Museum of the City of Havana,” one of the posts said. Photos included shots of a Canadian naval band member leading crowd members in a conga line dance.

The Globe and Mail requested an itinerary of the port visit from the Department of National Defence. Spokesman Kened Sadiku said HMCS Margaret Brooke co-hosted an engagement with the Canadian ambassador “for officials from many countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, and the host nation of Cuba.”

Lieutenant-Commander Linda Coleman, a senior communications adviser with the defence department, said the musical performance was arranged by the Department of Global Affairs.

“While in country, ship personnel also engaged in cultural exchanges in the Havana area,” she said. “A small number of personnel participated in this particular exchange, which was planned by the Canadian embassy in Havana, and served as a secondary side event in addition to the military purpose of the visit.”

She said only four sailors from the crew participated in this musical performance. Ships of this class have a maximum crew size of 85, she said.

LCdr. Coleman stressed, however, that the “visit’s principal purpose was a military one.”

She said Canada is “committed to maintaining a military presence in the sea and air around our continent, and foreign actors coming into our neighbourhood can expect to see our armed forces fulfilling their mission” to protect Canada.

The Associated Press reported last year that China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, as part of a global effort by Beijing to upgrade its intelligence-gathering capabilities. The news service cited an anonymous member of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration as its source.

Michael Lima, a Cuban-Canadian and democracy activist who is critical of the authoritarian government in Havana, said it’s hard to see how the Royal Canadian Navy’s musical entertainment fits with a deterrence operation.

He said it’s disappointing to see a Canadian sailor “leading conga lines in a country with over 1,000 political prisoners.” (Prisoners Defenders, a human-rights advocacy group, said in a May, 2024, report that political prisoners in Cuba numbered 1,113.)

Mr. Lima said Canada’s friendly military visit with Cuba “raises strong ethical, moral, and human-rights questions.”

On July 11, 2021, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in dozens of cities, from Havana to Santiago, calling for President Miguel Diaz-Canel to step down, in what international media called the biggest anti-government demonstrations on the Communist-run island in decades. The protests erupted amid Cuba’s worst economic crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union, its old ally, and a record surge in coronavirus infections. The government’s reaction was “brutal, systematic repression and censorship,” according to Human Rights Watch, an international rights group.

Cuba, facing economic difficulties owing to factors such as decades of embargo by the U.S., has strengthened its relationship with Russia after Moscow’s 2022 assault on Ukraine. Hundreds of Cubans are reportedly fighting for Russia in the war against Ukraine, although Havana has publicly disavowed this recruitment.

In November, 2022, Mr. Diaz-Canel, the Cuban President, visited Moscow where he and Mr. Putin unveiled a monument to Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, pledging to deepen their friendship in the face of U.S. sanctions against both countries.

Conservative Party defence critic James Bezan said Canada’s friendly gestures for Cuba send “a disturbing message to Canada’s Ukrainian community and our ally Ukraine, that Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is celebrating a regime that is actively supporting Vladimir Putin.”

Nevertheless, relations between Cuba and Canada have warmed under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He visited the island in November, 2016, and when Mr. Castro died later that month, he issued a statement celebrating the authoritarian leader as a “legendary revolutionary and orator” and “larger than life leader who served his people.”