Why did Mexico never break relations with Fidel’s Cuba?


Until the insane “comes y te vas” of Vicente Fox, in April 2002, a clumsy and undiplomatic way of preventing Fidel Castro’s presence at the Monterrey Economic Summit from coinciding with the arrival at the event of the president of the United States, George W Bush, relations between Cuba and Mexico had been remarkably good. Subsequently, our country joined the majority of the states belonging to the United Nations World Organization (UN) to protest the intolerance of the Cuban government in the matter of human rights. Although these incidents deteriorated the Cuban-Mexican nexus, diplomatic relations were preserved.

It was during the Cold War, the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the years that followed that Mexico, with President Adolfo López Mateos at the helm, despite Washington’s coercion, demonstrated its support for the new government in Havana. In 1961 the Mexican government vehemently protested to the United Nations about the Bay of Pigs invasion. In 1964 our country was the only member of the Organization of American States (OAS) that did not comply with the initiative of the United States to break diplomatic relations with the island.

During the years that followed, Fidel’s government acted with the certainty of counting on the support of Mexico in a hostile region.

An investigation by Isaac Campos Costero and Gustavo López de la O, translated by Midiala Rosales Rosa for the portal Proceso.com.mx, reveals that recently declassified documents offer evidence that the condescension of the United States towards Mexico’s attitude on the Cuban issue it was based on a confidential agreement between the Mexican rulers and their American counterparts.

“The documents illustrate the ways in which Mexico executed a dangerous diplomatic dance: maintaining a public stance of support for the Castro regime while secretly conceding much more to US pressure than analysts have believed.”

Even a rabidly anti-communist president like Gustavo Díaz Ordaz maintained the Mexico-Cuba relationship in very good terms. In 1967, a Cuban guerrilla raided Venezuela, which caused the Venezuelan government to break relations with Cuba. In this regard, the deputy of the US embassy in Mexico, Henry Deatbon, sent a cable to the State Department: “I was informed since my recent arrival at the post, that GM (Mexican Government) has informal high-level understandings with the United States government. to maintain relations with Cuba, for an OAS country to keep a foot in that door, which could be of great help (…) We should not give the impression to GV (Venezuelan Government) that we want to pressure GM even secretly” .

In the declassified documents there is evidence that through the Embassy of Mexico in Havana, the United States government collected information on the economic, political and social development of Cuba.

Today are different times, the Mexican government of the 4T and the Cuban are more similar. The agreements aim to intensify and restore the bilateral relationship. However, I would like to end with two matters expressed by our president that leave me with the impression that, although with a different attitude, the ambivalence in the treatment will continue. AMLO condemned “the perverse strategy of the US blockade.” He also expressed his hope “that the Cuban revolution will be reborn in the revolution. May the revolution be capable of renewing itself.”

May 10 is not forgotten

Mothers value our existence more than our achievements. I never gave anything up for lost until my mother couldn’t find it. My mother was an ophthalmologist: “You’ll see when we get home.” My mother taught me to be a ventriloquist: “Shut up and answer me, why did you do it?

Manuel Wormwood

Writer and television screenwriter

The Privilege of Opinion

Mexican television writer. He is known for having written the scripts for programs such as Ensalada de Locos, La carabina de Ambrosio, La Güereja and something else, El privilege de manda, among others.



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