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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Mexico, Cuba Reinstating Ambassadors |
| 2004-07-19 |
| Mexico and Cuba said Sunday they will reinstate ambassadors in each other's countries at the end of the month, ending a diplomatic rift between Fidel Castro's government and its former strongest ally. Both countries withdrew their ambassadors in May after Mexico accused Cuba of meddling in its internal affairs. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and his Mexican counterpart Luis Ernesto Derbez said the ambassadors would be reinstated on July 26. "We've made progress and agreed on the importance of working in favor of bilateral relations," said Perez Roque. Derbez, who arrived in Havana on Sunday, said: "There can be differences among friends on certain issues, but these differences can be talked out." Mexico, the only Latin American country to maintain ties with Havana after the 1959 Cuban revolution, has been the communist island's strongest ally in the region. For decades, Mexico used that connection to mollify leftists upset by their country's close relationship with the United States. But relations between the two nations have been rocky since President Vicente Fox took office in 2000 and criticized Cuba's human rights record. In 2002, Mexico supported a resolution of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva condemning Cuba. Mexico was later angered by Cuban allegations that a Mexican official arrested in Havana on fraud charges was part of a larger political conspiracy. Mexican officials also said members of Cuba's Communist Party were holding unauthorized political meetings in Mexico, and took offense at comments by Castro that Fox was a lackey of the United States. Perez Roque said the date for the reinstatement was symbolic, as July 26 marks the 51st anniversary of a failed rebel attack that gave a name to the July 26 Movement and laid the groundwork for Castro's eventual victory six years later over the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 The 2 socialist "girlie men" making up after their lover's quarrel. How sweet. And just as GWB is trying to get tough with Cuba, his pal Presidentie Foxie Loxie pulls the rug from under him. Sad, really. |
| Posted by: rex 2004-07-19 12:42:15 AM |