Mexico and Cuba on Saturday reaffirmed their friendship and solidarity and verified that bilateral relations are going through one of their best moments of understanding and closeness in more than 120 years.
Mexico.- It was expressed in a statement published by the Mexican Presidency at the end of the official visit made by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and a large delegation that accompanied him.
The Cuban head of State was invited by President Andres Manuel López Obrador, and it is Díaz-Canel's fourth visit to Mexico, the communiqué added.
Both leaders toured the archaeological zone of Edzná, supervised the works of the Mayan Train, met with IMSS-Benestar personnel in the Seventh Naval Region of Campeche, and held a bilateral meeting to deepen the agreements reached during López Obrador’s visit to Cuba in May 2022.
The press release pointed out that in the archaeological zone of Edzná, which was declared Humankind's Cultural Heritage, López Obrador awarded Díaz-Canel with the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle in a Collar degree, in recognition of his merits for taking the strategic relationship between Mexico and Cuba to a historic level of friendship and understanding.
Díaz-Canel’s visit was part of President López Obrador’s tour to supervise the Mayan Train, a project in which Cuba supplied around 20,000 tons of rock for the ballast required by the railway.
Mexico ratified its unrestricted condemnation of the United States blockade against Cuba and declared its intention to lead the international community’s efforts to eliminate that hostile policy that President López Obrador described as unfair and inhumane.
Likewise, he reiterated the urgent need for Cuba to be removed from the arbitrary list of State sponsors of terrorism, created by the US Department of State, a title that prevents international financial transactions and hinders operations by foreign companies, thus creating shortages of basic products, the statement said.
Both statesmen agreed to expand and strengthen cooperation in health care, framed in the agreement signed during President López Obrador's visit to Cuba.
They referred to the acquisition of Cuba's Abdala vaccine and medicines required by Mexico's public healthcare system and highlighted the work of all 610 Cuban medical specialists who provide services in highly marginalized areas of Mexico and 429 Mexican doctors who specialize in Cuba.
In this vein, and intending to share bilateral cooperation at a regional level, Cuba accepted Mexico's invitation to co-sponsor the Latin American and Caribbean Health Regulation Agency, which seeks to unify regulatory efforts, make processes efficient, reduce costs, and generate access to technical capacities in the region.
The communiqué noted that the governments of Mexico and Cuba welcomed the significant achievements in the implementation of the Rural Development and Strengthening of Local, Economic, Social, and Environmental Cooperation Program, coordinated by the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation, which will benefit some 5,000 farmers in the Cuban provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque.
President Díaz-Canel's visit is a faithful testimony of the extraordinary moment that the frank and open friendship between the peoples of Mexico and Cuba is going through after more than 120 years of uninterrupted relations, the statement concluded.
LA JORNADA PRAISES DÍAZ-CANEL’S SUCCESSFUL VISIT TO MEXICO
La Jornada newspaper on Sunday published a new editorial praising the successful official visit of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to Mexico, and the strengthening of the bilateral friendship between both peoples and governments.
Under the title Mexico-Cuba: Cooperation and Sovereignty, the Mexican newspaper highlighted the Order of the Aztec Eagle given to the Cuban leader, an occasion to recall the historical relations that unite our nations and reaffirm the willingness to strengthen cooperation for mutual benefit.
By giving Díaz-Canel the Aztec Eagle Order, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reaffirmed his deep admiration for the Cuban people for their courageous resistance to the US blockade imposed on Cuba for over 60 years.
According to the publication, this feat has turned it into a reference for all movements that vindicate sovereignty and dignity ahead of neocolonial attacks.
The Cuban leader, on the other hand, assured that his country's bilateral relations with Mexico “have no comparison with any other country."
Plus, he conveyed his government's gratitude for the support provided amid the difficult circumstances Cuba has experienced due to natural disasters.
Mexico does not forget that at the height of the health emergency, Havana sent hundreds of doctors to fight off the coronavirus in Mexico. They played an invaluable role in saving lives.
The Cuban doctors' work in our country has not ended. As the pandemic waned, they joined the current administration's efforts to bring health care to communities historically marginalized from this right.
In this regard, it is critical to emphasize the Cubans are not displacing Mexican professionals; on the contrary, they carry out their solidarity mission in hospitals where national doctors have repeatedly refused to go. (PL)