Iconic and lesser-known moments of the friendship between Mexico and Cuba were featured on Monday at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s regular press conference with the screening of a video about this historic relationship.
“There are bonds of friendship between peoples that cross the seas and carry the winds of freedom. Mexico and Cuba are a prime example of this,” stated the video presented by José Alfonso Suárez del Real, political advisor to the Presidential Social Communication Coordination.
The video recalls that, during the 19th century, breaking free from Spain’s colonial rule and ending slavery was a shared aspiration between the two countries, and many Cuban liberals, such as Pedro Ampudia, joined the ranks of the Mexican insurgents to fight for national independence.
Furthermore, the video adds, the two sides “were identified by a generous policy of asylum and support for refugees from both nations. (Benito Juárez, the Hero of the Americas) and Melchor Ocampo bore witness to this during their passage through Havana on their way into exile.”
It recounts that this was confirmed by the island’s National Hero, José Martí—who at one point asserted that if he were not Cuban, he would have wanted to be Mexican—and by the writer and journalist Pedro Santacilia.
“During the Cuban War of Independence, in April 1869, President Juárez recognized the right of Cubans to be free and allowed ships flying the Cuban flag to enter Mexican ports,” the video explains.
It adds that diplomatic relations were established in 1898 and that in 1913, the Cuban ambassador, Manuel Márquez Sterling, “wrote one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of diplomacy by openly defending President Francisco I. Madero and Vice President José María Pino Suárez.”
The video recalls that when Mexico decided to nationalize its oil in 1938, it received support from the island in the face of pressure from foreign powers, prompting “General Lázaro Cárdenas to express his gratitude for Cuba’s solidarity and fraternal gesture.”
It also alludes to the presence in the 1950s of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and his comrades in Mexico, from where they sailed across the Gulf of Mexico to begin the process of social transformation in the Caribbean nation.
The capsule highlights that “Mexico is the only country that has never severed relations with Cuba and has maintained its unwavering support, condemning the political and economic isolation that violates international law.”
“Mexico and Cuba share a common history, and Mexican Humanism inspires and revitalizes solidarity between our nations, which seek to live by the principle that peace is the fruit of justice and respect among our peoples,” it emphasizes.
Currently, President Sheinbaum has expressed her support for the island and sent material aid to the Caribbean nation, amidst the tightening of the blockade imposed by the United States.
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
