“It was unforgivable to come to Mexico and not meet you,” confessed the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to the representatives of the Mexican movement of solidarity with Cuba, with whom he spoke for almost two hours during the afternoon of this Thursday at the headquarters of our embassy in the brother Aztec country.

It was a meeting of diverse emotions, sensitivity, commitment, gratitude, encouragement and hope. A meeting in which everyone wanted to thank, tell, contribute … and in which Díaz-Canel conveyed to everyone a big hug from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, who hours before had accompanied him at the José Martí International Airport in Havana.

They were about a hundred friends from Cuba. In the first rows, as a symbol, was El Cuate, the man who put the Granma in Fidel’s hands.

It is very significant for us, the Head of State acknowledged, to be able to tell you “directly the feelings we have towards everything you do in support of Cuba.”

You are one of the beautiful people, who can be counted on to build a better world, which is possible, and which has to be without antagonisms and without wars, he told them. “It cannot be a world of walls, it has to be a world of solidarity, of cooperation; a world of surrender, a world of sharing what we have and not what is left over ”.

As part of the relaxed and frank dialogue, the Cuban President thanked his friends for the support and courage with which they assume the challenge of being at the side of the Greater Antilles, regardless of the complexity of the scenarios.

To them he also entrusted the honor represented by the gesture of the Mexican Government, and in particular of President López Obrador, to invite Cuba in a special, heartfelt, unusual way, to a commemoration such as the Grito de Dolores and also allow a speech on such an important date for Mexico and also for Latin America.

In his opening words Díaz-Canel evoked the relationships that have defined the essences of both peoples, closely linked by history, which collects endearing anecdotes that unite and distinguish us.

The President spoke of thanks, “because there are many reasons to do so.” Feel that what you do is not in vain, he asserted, that greatly strengthens the Cuban people and the Cuban people recognize all your efforts.

I do not have the words that are necessary – he confessed – to “convey to you all the respect, all the admiration and also all the affection that we have for what you have contributed to Cuba, and for the strength that you give us with your help and your solidarity ”.

With Cuba, until the last consequences.

“We have received a lot from Cuba: the example of solidarity, of justice, of all that is good, and that ratifies us that a better world is possible”, still shaken by the emotions of the morning session in El Zócalo, with those words, simple and at the same time profound, the former Senator of the Congress of the Union of Mexico, Yeidckol Polevnsky, defined her way of seeing and feeling the Caribbean Island.

Of gratitude were also the words of more than a dozen friends of solidarity who wanted to share with the Cuban president his emotions and feelings. And it is that, as one of them was heard to say, “the solidarity of the peoples is not only diplomacy.”

From the affection and commitment they were heard talking about honor and commitment. The commitment, said Irina Layeska, to give our heart and our grain of sand to endorse friendship and do.

In the voice of Senator Gloria Sánchez, the dialogue also took the path of anti-imperialism and the “unquestionable support of the Senate of the Republic will always be with Cuba, supporting its self-determination and sovereignty.”

From the gratitude, spoke Dr. Luis Raúl Cartagena Rivero, graduated some years ago from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), who expressed his pride in having the Cuban President here and from humility requested to reactivate the granting of scholarships for young people from their country can study medicine in Cuba. Rest assured, he assured, that “we are with the Cuban Revolution until the last consequences.”

I have the certainty – Díaz-Canel shared with those present – that “Cuba is not going to disappoint you, that the Cuban Revolution will continue to overcome obstacles and will continue to reap victories; The current generations that have been assuming fundamental responsibilities in the State, in the Party, and in the Government of Cuba, are generations of continuity.

“We assume the commitment with the historical generation, and we are also convinced, because that generation taught us, that we must continue working to continue perfecting our Revolution, for its own sake, to continue perfecting our society and to continue perfecting our socialism ”.

This has been a meeting, he assured, that we are going to preserve in the revolutionary memory, in the sentimental memory and in the historical memory of each one of us, “because this has been a meeting of sincerity, friendship, love, conviction and commitment ”.

And among so many emotions, President Díaz-Canel thanked them for everything they do for Cuba, and although everything is important, he said, the most important thing is the love they give to Cuba and the support they give to Cuba. Now when we have called to put our hearts in Cuba, put our hearts on it, he reflected, we are convinced that you here, in Mexico, have also put hearts in it.

After concluding the meeting with the members of the solidarity groups who accessed the embassy, where physical distancing was scrupulously respected, Díaz-Canel went outside the diplomatic headquarters to greet another large group of friends who were on the outskirts of the embassy to welcome him.

Summoned by organizations of the left, and despite a torrential rain that sealed the afternoon of Mexico City, the demonstrationists chanted iconic phrases of the Revolution, including the reappropriation of one of the most famous and beloved dedicated to Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and which now says with the typical Mexican rhythm and “leave”: “Canel, Canel, what Canel has that the imperialists can’t with him.”

On his first day of work in Aztec land, the Cuban President also held a meeting with representatives of the island state mission here – diplomats and other workers from the embassy, commercial representatives of Cuban companies and other officials – whom I classify as a collective commitment that has deployed intense work to strengthen bonds between the two nations.

He recalled that the main reason for his visit was to participate in the commemorations for the 211th anniversary of the start of the Mexican independence and in the VI CELAC Summit, to be held tomorrow Saturday, and it is also a recognition of the close friendship between our countries, strengthened with the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

In a very familiar exchange with the West Indian workers, the Head of State outlined the intense exchange that he had on Thursday with the Mexican President, of whom he praised his convictions and courage, and his commitment to Cuba.

In the midst of the current circumstances that have been imposed on Cuba, with the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade and the maintenance by President Joseph Biden of the 243 measures applied by the Trump administration – betraying what he promised during his electoral campaign – that a Mexican president expresses himself in the way that López Obrador has done is highly commendable.

In another moment of their exchange, Díaz-Canel highlighted the professional and human effort of the workers of the Cuban diplomatic headquarters and their families, most of whom have not been able to go to the homeland for about 24 months due to the inconveniences that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, and some have even contracted the SARS-CoV 2 virus in the fulfillment of the mission.

On behalf of the Party, the State and the Cuban Government, we recognize and appreciate the work you have done, “said the President, with the sincerity and emotion that characterizes him, to the members of the state mission, whom he updated on the situation in the island.

Regarding the pandemic, Díaz-Canel highlighted the “magnificent attention” of the embassy to the medical brigades that arrived in the Mesoamerican nation to help in the fight against COVID-19, a collaboration, he said, that has been highly appreciated by the people and the Mexican government.

He also underlined the support provided to facilitate the arrival in Cuba of the donations of medicines and medical supplies sent by the solidarity movements in this country, and for the supply to the Island of medical oxygen concentrators and other materials after the breakdown in the plant of industrial gases from Cotorro, which produces 95 percent of the oxygen consumed in our country.

Díaz-Canel once again conveyed to the diplomats and other Cuban workers in Mexico, the feeling of gratitude and admiration, for all that they have contributed to, together with what our people are doing, to overcome the present adversities that we are experiencing.

In the exchange, the Head of State was accompanied by the members of the official delegation, made up of the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Luis Alberto López Calleja, the president’s advisor; and Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment; as moderator the Cuban ambassador in Mexico, Pedro Núñez Mosquera.