Cuba’s Raul Castro visits Mexico to renew relations

“Cuba needs lots of infrastructure: highway infrastructure, communications infrastructure, hydraulic infrastructure and there will be many opportunities for companies”, said Federico Martinez, president of Mexican construction firm Tradeco. The Castro brothers lived in exile in Mexico in the 1950s and sailed to Cuba from the eastern state of Veracruz to launch their guerrilla revolution. His Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled for 71 years before losing the presidency in 2000, maintained a respectful relationship with Cuba’s communist government despite US pressure to cut off ties.

In 2004, Fox recalled his ambassador to Havana and expelled Cuba’s envoy to Mexico City.

Ties later frayed but under Pena Nieto, Mexico has sought to revive past solidarity, and in November 2013, his government said it would waive most of $487 million in debt Cuba owed it.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced agreements to fight human trafficking and exchanges in tourism, education and business created to increase Mexican investment in Cuba, as well as “a dialogue at the highest political levels”.

The diplomatic reconciliation between the United States and Cuba has raised the prospect of new business opportunities on the island, though the USA embargo remains in place.

Diplomatic ties between Cuba and Mexico nosedived during the presidency of conservative Vincente Fox, who governed from 2000 to 2006.

In May 2014, Mexico sent a business delegation to Havana representing 48 companies. Mexico is now one of Cuba’s largest export markets, particularly for luxury goods like rum and cigars.

Pena Nieto noted that the two nations had vowed to bring order to migrant flows after a recent jump in Cubans reaching Mexico, but he did not provide details of the accord.

Mexican government figures show that almost 6,500 Cubans were taken to migration centers in the first nine months of this year, three times more than in all of 2014.

“We believe we are in a privileged position to have more presence on the island because it’s close, we share the Caribbean Sea and because of many things”, said Socorro Flores, Mexico’s deputy foreign minister for Latin America.

At a United Nations poverty summit in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey that year, Fox urged Fidel Castro to leave early to avoid an awkward encounter with then-US president George W. Bush.

Yet despite possessing a fortune that has made him a symbol of the massive inequality in Mexico, Slim has been praised for his intelligence by Fidel Castro, who in 2010 announced the billionaire had given him a television.

Pena Nieto has taken steps to fix relations.

Peña Nieto has vowed to improve relations with Mexico’s neighbors, including Cuba.