Exclamations of “Cuba yes, Yankees no!” and “Down with the blockade!” welcomed Diaz-Canel, upon his arrival to the National Palace, shortly after noon, following his reception at Benito Juárez International Airport by Maximiliano Reyes Zúñiga, undersecretary of state for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, constitutional President of the United Mexican States, accompanied his Cuban counterpart to the Patio of Honor for a brief formal welcome ceremony, where the notes of the national anthems of the two nations rang through the majestic building, adorned for the occasion with the flags of both Cuba and Mexico.

Subsequently, the two leaders moved to the Presidential Office and held a private meeting, with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and Cuba’s ambassador in Mexico, Pedro Núñez Mosquera, also participating. On the Mexican side, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Luis Ebrard Casaubón and Maximiliano Reyes Zúñiga attended, as well.

During the afternoon, an extended meeting was held between the two heads of state, with the respective official committees also present. According to a tweet by Cuba’s Foreign Minister, reaffirmed in the cordial discussion was “the will to continue developing political-diplomatic dialogue and expanding economic-commercial, investment, and cooperation relations.”

The Cuban delegation participating in this momentous visit included Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; the ministers of Foreign Trade and Investment, Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, and Energy and Mines, Raúl García Barreiro; Eugenio Martínez Enríquez and Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, general directors for Latin America and the Caribbean, and of Consular and Cuban Resident Abroad Affairs, respectively; as well as the Cuban ambassador in Mexico, Pedro Núñez Mosquera.

Undersecretary Reyes described President Díaz-Canel’s visit to Mexico as one of “emblematic relevance; very important because it is another example of the appreciation, of the affection, of the historical brotherhood shared by the Mexican people and government with Cuba.” This was the first official visit to Mexico by a head of state since Andrés Manuel López Obrador assumed the Presidency in December of 2018.

Within a complex regional context, in which the two countries defend common positions on international issues, “for us Cuba has always been an emblem of the struggle for freedom, of the struggle against imperialist interests in the region,” emphasized Reyes in statements to the Cuban press.

Given the current “interventionist temptations,” as in the 1980s, Mexico today bases its foreign policy on the principles of non-intervention, self-determination, development cooperation and, above all, dialogue as the only way to resolve conflict. Thus our brotherhood and the synergy that exists between our countries’ positions are today more valid than ever,” he said.

Much remains to be done in terms of governmental cooperation. Faced with such a challenge, Reyes commented, “There is much to move forward,” and, without mentioning specific sectors, highlighted the goal of continuing to promote programs underway in the areas of ​​higher education, health, and hospital care.

He described the historical relationship that distinguishes the two nations as “extremely close,” one of “great affection, a relationship we want to produce concrete and tangible results for the benefit of our peoples.”

Given the question as to whether Diaz-Canel’s visit, as the first by a head of state since López Obrador’s election, was intentional or simply coincidental, his response left no room for doubt, “It is absolutely intentional.”

Prior to this exchange, President López Obrador had stated in his usual morning conference with the national and international media accredited in the country, “This is an important visit, because we can say that the Cuban people and the Mexican people are sister peoples.”

This was a visit that clearly reflects the intention shared by the two governments to promote “development cooperation.”

CUBA-MEXICO RELATIONS

- Mexico is a dear country for Cuba, with which we share a history and tradition of friendship.

- Cuba’s battles have been closely linked to the struggles and history of Mexico.

Our national hero, José Martí lived in Mexico, where he enriched his revolutionary and Latin Americanist vision.

- There is significant cultural exchange in numerous artistic expressions such as cinema, literature, theater, painting, and music.

- On May 20, the 117 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations between the two countries were celebrated.

- Cubans will never forget the support received from Mexico in the region, as the only country that did not break relations and rejected attempts to isolate us by the U.S. government, during the Revolution’s early years.

- The historic victory of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador represents an opportunity to continue developing our amicable, historical, cultural ties, and, at the same time, expand the bilateral relationship.

- Last April, the seventh meeting of Cuba and Mexico’s Permanent Mechanism of Information and Political Consultations was successfully conducted, allowing for further deepening of diplomatic relations, and the expansion of economic-commercial ties and cooperation.

- The holding of the XXIV National Solidarity Meeting with Cuba, last March, reflected the unconditional relationship of friendship and solidarity between the two peoples.

- Cuba and Mexico have a strengthened legal framework that will allow increasing exchanges in sectors of mutual interest such as health, education, sports, tourism, culture, and biotechnology.

- Bilateral interactions this year, including visits to Mexico by Cuban ministers of Foreign Affairs, Health, and Tourism, plus the rector of the University of Havana, and those made to our country by Mexico’s Secretary of Health and the president of the nation’s sports commission, have opened up new opportunities for dialogue and cooperation for the benefit of our peoples.

- Cuba is willing to contribute modestly in areas of common interest and benefit, and to the development and renewal of Mexico promoted by the government of President López Obrador.

- Conditions are in place to further strengthen economic-commercial relations.

Mexico is Cuba’s second most important trading partner in the region, and the fifth internationally.

- The important presence of Mexican enterprises in Cuba’s development programs is significant.

(Sources: Cubaminrex and Granma)

Lopez Obrador highlighted the historical ties with the people and government of Cuba, part of Mexican foreign policy based on good relations with all the peoples of the world.

“We are going to endorse that commitment and that foreign policy condition of respect for the Cuban people, their independence, their right to self-determination, which has been characteristic of our foreign policy and is contemplated in our Constitution,” he emphasized.

The head of State explained that he will discuss with his Cuban counterpart a general program to be developed in the short or medium term, including cooperation in health, education and sports.

Lopez Obrador announced he will receive Miguel Diaz-Canel in the Courtyard of Honor of the National Palace.

This is the first state visit to Mexico by Diaz-Canel since he attended the inauguration of President Lopez Obrador, in December 2018.

(Prensa Latina)

The Mexico that López Obrador is to inherit is a country where violence, impunity, poverty, strained diplomatic relations, a weak economy, and cases of corruption have generated a crisis of unprecedented dimensions.

To offer just a few examples, from December 2012 to May 2018, 119,393 intentional homicides were recorded in Mexico, and there are currently 37,435 persons registered as disappeared.

According to a report by the National Human Rights Commission, from 2012 to 2017, 25 recommendations were issued relating to serious human rights violations. The killings of journalists reached a record figure with 44 cases documented under the current government, and a total of 117 recorded since 2000.

This is the scenario that the next government of the Republic will face, in addition to the consequences of the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the virtual bankruptcy of the Mexican state-owned petroleum company, PEMEX, and a human rights crisis that transcends borders.

The measures presented last Wednesday by the President-elect represent some of the legislative priorities of his government, and an attempt to address many of these problems.

Among other areas, included is a reform to end public officials’ – including the president – exemption from prosecution and other privileges, and an announced law to allow recall referendums to revoke their mandates.

López Obrador explained that the reform to end privileges and immunity means that the President can be tried for electoral crimes and corruption, for which he is also requesting increased sentences, as well as for the theft of fuel.

The leader of the MORENA Party stated that he will undertake changes that will make it possible to streamline the public administration structure, as part of an announced austerity plan that also includes reducing the salaries of high-ranking officials and eliminating pensions for former presidents.

“Everything to do with the republican austerity plan and fighting corruption will have priority from the first day of the new Congress,” López Obrador added.

He also reiterated that he will seek to revoke or modify the educational reform undertaken by the current government, and establish the right to free public education at all levels of schooling.

“The consultation mechanism will be established by law for the revocation of mandates and will remove obstacles in all citizen referendum procedures, that must be binding in nature, with the purpose of enforcing participatory democracy,” he noted.

López Obrador secured a landslide victory with electoral pledges relating to the elimination of the profound corruption that plagues the country, which has also been hit by increased violence and weak economic growth.

This will be a huge challenge and not only for him, but also for his cabinet, which he has already begun to shape with the inclusion of different political and economic figures, who should, in his own words, work together on a common project that raises Mexico beyond what it is today.

MEASURES PROPOSED BY LÓPEZ OBRADOR

- Regulatory law on maximum wages
- Creation of the Secretariat for Public Security
- Abolition of impunity and privileges
- New serious offences: corruption, fuel theft and electoral fraud
- Budget and Income Law
- Transfer the General Staff to the Secretariat of National Defense
- Revoke decrees on water privatization
- Revoke educational reform laws
- Incorporate the right to higher education into Article 3 of the Constitution
- Revocation of Mandate
- Remove obstacles to Referendum
- Reforms on increasing the minimum wage at the border
- Adjust the administration to an austerity plan, without layoffs of lower level workers

(Granma)

Directed by Dana Stella Aguilar, the group will perform on April 13, 14 and 15 in the aforementioned hall, in the Mexican capital, with a stage performance that pays homage to Damaso Perez Prado.

The piece was debuted by that group on December 8, 9 and 10, 2017, in the western town of Matanzas, the hometown of the arranger, composer and orchestra conductor, during the celebration of the international colloquium for its centenary.

On that occasion, the visiting theater players subsequently made a successful tour that included the cities of Cienfuegos (center / south), Sancti Spiritus (center) and Havana, reviewed by the Cuban critics.

This month’s performance features a Mexican cast led by Gerardo Trejoluna and live music from the Matanzas brass quintet Atenas Brass Ensemble, led by Rodolfo Jorge Horta, with musical direction by Emiliano Gonzalez de León.

Other actors that will intervene are Hector Hugo Peña, Ernesto Alvarez, Luz Marina Arcos, Julio Olivares, Fabiana Perzabal and Omar Godinez, the CME added.

In the production team, Israel Rodriguez as a designer and the choreographer Luis Villanueva will participate; in the audiovisual creation will work Alan Kerriu, as an advisor of songs and rhythms will be Juan Cisneros and Vivian Martinez Tabares will be the theatrical advisor.

The binational project of ‘Conjuro Teatro’ and CME received the 2017 Efiteatro grant from the Ministry of Culture of Mexico and has several auspices, including Covamex Cuban National Council, Provincial Council of Performing Arts and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

In Mexico ‘Yo soy el rey del mambo’ will be presented in other spaces and institutions, such as the Julio Castillo Theater, the Metropolitan Autonomous University, the National Polytechnic Institute, and the city of Aguascaliente, during April and May.

(Prensa Latina)

The Interactivo member was chosen from among 600 groups, of which 15 made the final cut and obtained their ticket to perform showcases before music industry specialists from Europe, the United States, and Latin America.

This is the first time that an artist from Cuba will feature as part of the festival in Mexico, where Telmary will perform hits from several stages of her career with Free Hole Negro, Interactivo, and as a solo artist.

Mexican journalist and music critic Betto Arcos, moderator and curator of FIMPRO, believes that Telmary’s presence is an excellent opportunity for international producers to learn not only about her career, but different aspects of the Cuban alternative scene.

“In contrast to dance music or typically Cuban music (salsa, timba, jazz), rock, Cuban hip-hop, and almost all alternative music have been somewhat isolated from the rest of Latin America and their presence has not been felt in festivals or in markets on the continent. For the first time, a large community of the independent music industry in Latin America, Europe, and the United States will have the opportunity to listen to a group from the new Cuban generation, with a leader who is firmly based on ancestral roots, and who points with her work toward the future. Telmary is one of the most important female voices of her generation and her project will be a great contribution to FIMPRO 2018,” Arcos told Granma.

Telmary released the album A Diario (with Bis Music) in 2005, with which she established herself as one of the most versatile voices in contemporary Cuban music and a composer with a critical conscience whose lyrics emphasize women’s empowerment in processes of social change. This edition of the festival will include concerts, workshops, conferences, business forums and meetings on the Latin alternative music market.

(Granma)

An article by columnist Carlos Fazio recalls the previous coup attempts against the legitimate and constitutional government of Venezuela, which, he says, Washington with the support of its regional acolytes wants now to overthrown ‘under the banner of multilateral humanitarian intervention under the umbrella of the OAS.’

He emphasizes that the new scenario of aggression is the Summit of the Americas, scheduled for April 13 and 14 in Lima, Peru.

There, they pretend to set off a new political-diplomatic escalation combined with clandestine psychological actions related to the Fourth-generation warfare (4GW), which will once again try to use the mass media under private monopoly control as armies of conquest.

Fazio also refers to the planned use by Washington’s covert war propaganda against Bolivarian Venezuela.

(Prensa Latina)

This according to Dr. Rolando Piloto, head of the 40-member Cuban medical brigade – which includes healthcare professionals with experience tackling natural disasters in other countries – speaking to Prensa Latina.

Piloto noted that the hospital – sent by Cuban authorities, alongside over 10 tons of equipment, medicines and supplies – was inaugurated during a brief ceremony on October 4.

The Cuban doctor also noted that despite rain on the day, hundreds of people came to the center to be treated.

The hospital, set up in the grounds of the Ixtepec sports stadium, offers consolations across general family medicine, pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics, orthopedics and traumatology, surgery and neurosurgery, 24 hours a day.

It also provides X-ray, psychology, psychiatry, physical rehabilitation and laboratory-clinical services, reported Piloto.
On arrival in Mexico the Cuban brigade got straight to work, offering services at military hospitals and a facility in Tehuantepec, where they gave consultations and conducted ultrasound and surgical procedures.

They also treated about 150 patients from various countries across Central America at a migrant’s center.

The Cuban doctors form part of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disasters and Serious Epidemics, which has undertaken 27 missions in 19 countries.

On September 7, a category 8.2 earthquake struck Mexico, primarily affecting the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco, and killing 90 people.

To these victims must be added the other 360 fatalities reported to date following a second 7.2 magnitude quake on September 19 in Mexico City and the states of Morelos, Puebla, México, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

(With information from Prensa Latina)

Presidents Juan Carlos Varela and Enrique Peña Nieto met last January 27th on the sidelines of the 4th Summit of the Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), held in Quito, Ecuador.

Panama is grateful for Mexico solidarity and its commitment to the full respect of human rights, which has led to find a solution to the humanitarian situation faced by Cuban nationals, victims of illegal human trafficking, who undertake a dangerous journey with a heavy toll, the statement adds.

The statement stresses that Mexico granted an exceptional solution that will allow the direct, fast, organized and secure transfer of migrants from Panama to Mexico.

The statement only added that the solution will be applied “over the next days”, without specifying the date, with the commitment of keeping the collaboration with countries in the region to address the migratory issues in a comprehensive manner and seek for joint solutions.

This group of about 1,200 irregular migrants remains in Panama northern border and have been distributed in temporary shelters in the province of Chiriquí, according to health sources in the region.

(Prensa Latina)

The group departed from Costa Rica on route to San Salvador, El Salvador on the evening of January 12, as part of a pilot plan adopted by various Central American countries with the assistance of the International Organization for Migration. Sources close to the operation reported a smooth and orderly process.

On arrival in Mexico, the National Migration Institute (INAMI) presented the Cubans with a 20-day residency permit, after which they will be obliged to leave the country.

After arriving in El Salvador, the first group traveled on four buses to La Hacadura Guatemalan border and from there to Mexico.
Guatemala’s Ombudsman for Human Rights (PDH) traveled with the Cubans to ensure that their rights were respected.

According to Prensa Latina, if the plan is successful, the other 7,000 Cubans still stranded in Costa Rica will gradually follow the same process.
For its part, Costa Rica reported January 13, that it would call on international organizations to help finance the Cubans’ journey, who have been stranded on the country’s border with Nicaragua since November, 2015.

Costa Rica’s Director of Migration and Immigration, Kathya Rodríguez, stated that next week her office will carry out a survey of those unable to pay the cost of the journey, which ranges between $555 and $570 dollars for adults and $350 for children, as it includes transportation, food, arrival and departure taxes in every country, as well as medical insurance.

Since November 15 through December 18, 2015, Costa Rica has issued 7,802 special travel visas to the Cuban migrants – the first group of individuals to receive these documents was also the first to depart under the pilot plan.

The majority of the Cuban migrants left the island legally via airplane headed to Ecuador, from where they traveled by land, air and sea through Colombia and Panama, until arriving in Costa Rica.

Their objective is to reach the United States, where the “wet-foot-dry-foot” policy and Cuban Adjustment Act remain in force, policies which encourage the illegal migration of Cubans.

(Granma)

There the Presidents held official talks, and attended the signing of several bilateral agreements, among them two memoranda of understanding, one addressing the goal of achieving legal, safe and orderly migration between the two countries, and another on diplomatic-academic collaboration. Also approved were cooperation programs in tourism, agriculture, commercial fishing, and education.

Speaking to the press following the talks, Peña Nieto commented that since he took office, 14 agreements have been signed with Cuba, just one less than the total established since 1928, reflecting both countries’ desire to strengthen the relationship. He welcomed Raúl, saying he hoped the Cuban President would feel at home in Mexico.

For his part, Raúl said he was honored to visit the country, noting that the special relations were not based solely on geography, but reflect shared traditions of struggle, in addition to cultural and family ties, recalling that Mexico was the only Latin American country to resist U.S. pressure and maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba after the Revolution. He added, “With the re-launching undertaken by the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto, ties between the two countries are being renovated and strengthened not only in the political arena, but also in cultural and economic-commercial areas, and scientific-technical cooperation.” Raúl likewise expressed his satisfaction with the interest displayed by Mexican businesses in investing in Cuba, specifically in the agricultural and tourism sectors, in which Mexico has important experience.

(Granma)