Benito Jimenez/Reform Agency
Saturday, February 11, 2023 | 09:09
Mexico City.- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador received his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, this Saturday, with whom he will renew cooperation agreements in the field of health and the sending of more Cuban doctors to the country.
“Welcome, President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, it is very satisfying, a great honor, to receive you here in Campeche, in our Country, which is yours. In your capacity as a worthy leader of the people of Cuba, Mexico and Cuba maintain brotherly relations politics forever,” López Obrador said during the welcome ceremony.
For his part, the Cuban President highlighted the bilateral relationship and said that they will work on mutually beneficial programs and actions.
“During our visit we will review together what we have advanced to date and we will analyze new goals in areas of common interest. One thing has distinguished this stage in the bilateral relationship between Mexico and Cuba: we have been able to specify programs and actions of mutual benefit , beyond traditional ties,” he said.
“In May 2022, during the visit of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Cuba, we agreed that both countries could send specialists to provide public health services in health units or situations in our respective nations. In less than a year, We are complying with what was agreed and there are already results to show us”.
“We are very proud to confirm here the presence here from Campeche of a group of Cuban doctors, whom we will visit. The export of stone from the southern province of Cienfuegos to be used in the works was also identified as a new area of the bilateral relationship. of the Mayan Train, which passes through several states, including Campeche, these are beneficial projects for our peoples and are examples of the potential that exists for the development of bilateral ties.
Díaz-Canel arrived at the Campeche airport at 8:30 a.m. in an Embraer 190 from Conviasa, a Venezuelan airline.
The Mexican government received him with a military honor guard made up of cadets from the Military School of Sergeants.
The anthems of both countries were sung at the welcome ceremony.
Also present were the Secretaries of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval; from Marina, Rafael Ojeda; Foreign Relations, Marcelo Ebrard; of the Interior, Adán Augusto López and the coordinator of advisers to President López Obrador, Lázaro Cárdenas Batel.
The Cuban Ambassador to Mexico, Marcos Rodríguez Costa, and the Governor of Campeche, Layda Sansores, also attended the reception.
The Presidents anticipate the signing of an agreement on the purchase of ballast, a material that will be used in the laying of the Mayan Train tracks.
“Basically (we will talk about) what has to do with doctors, there are possibilities that more doctors will arrive,” he said yesterday during the morning conference, held in Zapopan, Jalisco.
He explained that Díaz-Canel will be decorated by the Government of Mexico with the Order of the Aztec Eagle.
López Obrador justified that high-resistance ballast does not exist in the entire Yucatan Peninsula.
“That stone is being used a lot, because 1,554 kilometers of railways are being built. And an agreement is being signed to bring that ballast to the Yucatan Peninsula, which is relatively close by ship,” he said.
However, López Obrador said he did not know the amount that will be invested in the purchase of the ballast.
It is at least the fourth time that President López Obrador has held a meeting with the Cuban President.
After the official greeting, the Government of Mexico will deliver the Decoration of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle in the archaeological zone of Edzná, about 50 minutes from the airport.
This is the highest distinction awarded to foreigners.
In accordance with the Civil Awards, Incentives and Rewards Law, the Decoration of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle is the distinction granted to foreigners to recognize outstanding services rendered to the Mexican Nation or to Humanity.
The distinction is given in the Collar grade, which is given only to heads of state, but is also awarded in the form of a medal, plaque or band, as has happened on other occasions.
