MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Presidents of Cuba. Mexico sign joint statement in Havana

Díaz-Canel thanked Mexico's efforts to declare Central America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace

The Presidents of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (also known as AMLO) have signed a joint statement Sunday expressing both countries' will to strengthen bilateral ties.

The announcement took place amid a Caribbean tour by the Mexican leader who had arrived in Havana straight from Belize. The document signed at the Palace of the Revolution highlights the interest of both governments in promoting development in education, culture, commerce, and economic development while ratifying cooperation to face the COVID-19 pandemic and other catastrophes.

AMLO was quite verbal about the United States' decision to exclude Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles next month. He also expressed his condolences to the victims of Friday's explosion at the Saratoga Hotel in Havana, which has cost over 30 lives with many more people hospitalized in critical conditions.

The Mexican president's usually long speech recalled the stay of Cuban national hero José Martí in Mexico. He also called for a renewal of the Cuban Revolution project, while rejecting the U.S. blockade of the island.

Díaz-Canel urged López Obrador to boost ties between their two countries and praised Sunday's Joint Declaration. He also thanked AMLO for his support opposing the blockade imposed by the United States.

The Cuban leader also thanked Mexico's intervention in Celac to improve hemispheric relations and the efforts of López Obrador's government to declare Central America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace.

Health Ministers José Ángel Portal Miranda (Cuba) and Jorge Carlos Alcocer Varela (Mexico) also signed bilateral agreements regarding cooperation in sanitary matters to develop technical, scientific, and academic cooperation activities in the field of health.