Cuba USA

The visit of Raúl Castro to Mexico

by Ángel Guerra Cabrera

The official visit to Mexico by Cuban President Raúl Castro inevitably brings to mind the strong and fraternal ties that bond both courtiers and cultures throughout the centuries. Mérida, capital of Yucatán where Raúl arrived reminds the historical ties bonded with Mexico and the Caribbean island throughout time.

Here the Cubans found refuge and great friendships: the eminent poet and patriot José María Heredia; the national hero José Martí whose “dear friend” and confidant was Manuel Mercado from Michoacan; the exemplary communist leader Julio Antonio Mella and the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro along with many survivors of the attack on the Moncada Barracks and future members of the Rebel Army that included Che Guevara.

The Mexicans have danced and continue to dance to Cuban rhythms. Mexican films, during its golden era, set an indelible mark in the culture of the Island. Mexico is the only country in Latin America that maintained diplomatic relations with Cuban when Washington tried to isolate her from the world.

This does not mean that there have been differences between the governments. Mexico flies the neo liberal belief deepened like in few other countries. Cuban raises high the flag of socialism and dismisses the hegemony of the market.

However, Mexico has always rejected the genocidal blockade of Cuba and has actively participated in the memorable efforts for unity and integration of Latin America and the Caribbean embodied in the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) and added its voice to the governments of our region demanding that the United States put an end to its policy of exclusion of the Island in regional forums.

Referring to CELAC Raúl has said: Together we are the third economy worldwide; the region with the largest reserves of oil; the largest biodiversity of the planet and with a high concentration of world mineral resources.

The presence of the Cuban president in Mexico at this time is not only an important step to re-launch the diplomatic, cultural, economic and commercial relations between both countries, begun by President Enrique Peña Nieto after their deterioration to the unfortunate “eat and leave” in 2003.I

It is also an acknowledgement by Mexico of the role of Cuba as a reference of Latin American unity, the efficiency of Raúl as president in the Island and its brilliant role in international activities that include the Summit of the Americas (Panama), the UN General Assembly and his visit to New York only that year. Mexico has expressed satisfaction for the re establishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States supporting as few the declaration of Latin America as a zone of peace agreed in the CELAC Summit during his pro tempore leadership in Havana , in which he said differences should be solved through dialogue. That peace negotiations of Colombia advance in the Cuban capital is a model of this paradigm.

Between Cuba and Mexico there is a promising future in economic, cultural, political and scientific relations

Bilateral trade represents about 500 million dollars this year; Mexican companies have 30 projects of investment in the Island of which 9 are in the strategic port of Mariel, attracted by the new law of foreign investment. The signing of 24 agreements boost ties with the universities of both countries.

It was through the solidarity of many Mexicans and especially the personal actions of the unforgettable General Lázaro Cárdenas that the promise Fidel made to the people of Cuba could be accomplished. In 1956 he declared we shall be free or martyrs he said in the urgency of liquidating the bloody and rapacious pro imperialist dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

The visit of the Cuban statesman is inscribed in the long tradition that unites the independence struggles and for social justice between both peoples. From Tuxpan, also in the Caribbean, departed on November 1956 in the Granma yacht, the intrepid freedom fighters towards the conquest and after so long to battle for the independence and freedom of Cuba. Raúl who was 27 at the time, head of the rearguard squad after fulfilling the mission precisely entrusted to him in the attack of Moncada three years before.

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