PRESIDENT ANDRES MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR’S VISIT TO CUBA
- Remarks by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador
- Editorial from La Jornada, Monday, May 9, 2022
“I have never wagered, nor do I wager nor will I wager, on the failure of the Cuban Revolution, its legacy of justice and its lessons of independence and dignity. I will never participate with coup plotters who conspire against the ideals of equality and universal brother and sisterhood”.
“May the revolution experience a rebirth within the revolution. May the revolution be cable of renewal, to follow the example of the martyrs who fought for freedom, equality, justice, sovereignty. And I have the conviction, the faith, that in Cuba they are doing things with that purpose in mind. That the new revolution is being made within the revolution”.
Mexico-Cuba: historic proposal
La Jornada editorial, Monday, May 9, 2022
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s visit to Havana not only ratified the historical warm ties that link the peoples of Mexico and Cuba, but also confirmed the bonds of friendship between the governments of both countries. This follows the period of distancing and estrangement, if not quasi rupture, which they were subject to by the previous neoliberal governments.
After receiving the Order of José Martí, the highest award given to foreigners by the Cuban authorities, the Mexican President delivered a speech in which he reviewed the rich history of bilateral relations, in the internationalist framework of the liberal revolutions of the 19th century in Latin America. He made clear his administration’s commitment to solidarity with the Caribbean island and unambiguously condemned the perverse blockade to which the United States has subjected Cuba for six decades with the purpose of undermining the wellbeing of its people so that they would be forced to confront their own government.
However, the Mexican President also spoke of the hopeful outlook that the Cuban State will be able to experience a process of renewal and undertake this new revolution within the revolution to demonstrate that reason is more powerful than force.
He pointed out that between the United States and the Caribbean nation it is time for brotherhood and not confrontation, and for a new coexistence among all the countries of the Americas because the model imposed more than two centuries ago is exhausted. Lopez Obrador called for rejecting the choice between the dilemma of integration with the United States or opposing it defensively. He supported exploring the option of a dialogue with Washington and persuading its leaders that a new relationship between all the countries of the Americas is possible.
In conclusion, López Obrador proposed to his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, integration with respect for sovereignty and different forms of government and the application of an economic and trade treaty as an effective solution to the risk of a geostrategic imbalance that the US’ decline represents for the world.
He also promised to insist in dealing with the White House that it put an end to the blockade and that it include all the countries of the hemisphere in the Summit of the Americas scheduled for this coming June.
The route outlined by the President of Mexico to overcome the long-standing attitude of US aggression and interference against Cuba and the normalization of relations between our northern neighbor and the Caribbean nation undoubtedly faces great uncertainties and enormous challenges, and at first sight it could seem even chimerical and unrealistic.
However, it has the virtue of being the only initiative that exists in the hemisphere to achieve such a difficult feat and represents a commitment to reason and understanding in a planet in need of both qualities. It is a historic proposal that, if successful, would represent for Cuba a way out of the suffocating and harmful hostility of Washington, while for the United States it could mean an opportunity to deactivate the grotesque anachronism of the blockade, a legacy of the Cold War which at this point faces international repudiation.
For the good of the three countries and the hemisphere in general, it is to be hoped that the path proposed yesterday by López Obrador in Havana will be well received. The full recovery of that bond of brotherhood with Cuba, the deterioration of which should never have been allowed, is also a welcome development.
Source: https://www.jornada.com.mx/2022/05/09/edito