MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador yesterday lavished praise on Cuba’s leader, reiterated his wish for the Caribbean island nation to be invited to the Summit of the Americas in June and said Mexico would be hiring over 500 Cuban doctors.
Lopez Obrador, who visited Cuba over the weekend as part of a regional tour of Central America and the Caribbean, said at a regular news conference that he had met with Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel, as well as former President Raul Castro.
“They have an incredible president. An honest man, hardworking, human, a really good person,” Lopez Obrador said of Diaz-Canel, the Communist president who took office in 2019.
During the visit the two countries signed an agreement to expand cooperation in public health and another pledging to increase cultural, economic and other ties.
Lopez Obrador has emerged as the most important head of state in Latin America to criticize U.S. policy toward the region and Cuba, which he faults for mass migration, and to call for area integration and greater independence from Washington.
His use of words such as “depraved” to describe U.S. sanctions on Cuba and praise of Cuba’s COVID-19 vaccines have endeared him to the Cuban government
“Except for a couple of short-lived periods in which relations between Cuba and Mexico were tense, during the 63 years since the victory of the Cuban Revolution they have been between good or very good,” William LeoGrande, a professor of government at American University in Washington, said.
“With the advent of AMLO they have become excellent,” he added, referring to Lopez Obrador.