AMLO Tours Central America and Cuba to Foster Relations

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's tour of Central America and Cuba is part of the Mexican government's strategy to foster realtions with the south, specifically aimed at expanding and strengthening ties of friendship in the Latin American region, as well as deepening political, economic and cooperation ties in favor of the region's development and the well-being of its peoples.

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President Andrés Manuel López Obrador began his first working tour of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize and Cuba, in response to invitations from the authorities of those countries, running from the 5th to the 8th of May.

The purpose of this tour also involves the Mexican Government´s willingness to evaluate the progress of its development strategy to curb migration. López Obrador has also directed his discourse towards addressing the root problems of this phenomenon.

He has also emphasized that Central American countries and Mexico are afflicted by the same problems: poverty, inequality, rural frustration, social disintegration, marginalization and the historical denial of effective rights for the majority.

The first international agreement signed by López Obrador as constitutional president of Mexico was with the governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which seeks to "lay the foundations of understanding to build an Integral Development Plan that will promote development and opportunities in the region, contributing to the prevention of the migratory phenomenon and simultaneously attacking its structural causes".

For López Obrador, it is not possible to confront the migratory phenomenon only with tougher laws, walls and police, but with welfare, security and peace in the migrants' places of origin.

The head of state's agenda focuses on development cooperation with programs such as the implementation of the Sembrando Vida and Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro social programs for Central American countries.

In this sense, López Obrador has insisted on reproaching the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden for not having delivered the four billion dollars he offered to invest in the aforementioned programs.

López Obrador said that the United States is “the protagonist of the migratory phenomenon” and “must, therefore, be co-responsible for resolving it, modifying its immigration policies.”

Nevertheless, the Mexican president is looking for options to increase investment in order to detonate the social and economic development of the region.

Throughout his tour, Obrador Lopez has also emphasised the imporantce of the IX Summit of the Americas and rejects the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit.

López Obrador asked his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to pave the way for the participation of all the countries of the American region, particularly Cuba, in the IX Summit of the Americas.

The Summit will be held in Los Angeles, California, from June 8 to 10 - this is a meeting of the heads of state of Western Hemisphere countries.

President López Obrador will be arriving in Havana on Saturday, 7 May, to meet with his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel. This visit aims to seal a relationship that has been growing closer since he came to power in 2018 and has turned Mexico into an ally of the island in the region.

President López Obrador's visit to the island will mark a milestone in relations between Cuba and Mexico, opined the deputy minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (Mincex), Ana Teresita González.

In addition, President Miguel Díaz-Canel will offer him an official reception, prior to the talks between the two heads of state and the signing of bilateral agreements.