The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, confirmed today the invitation to his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to the ceremony for the 200th anniversary of national independence.
To a question about it in his morning press conference at the National Palace, the president said that the president of Cuba will be the guest that day, September 16, and on the 27th of this month it’ll be the President of the United States, Joe Biden, for the consummation of independence on that date, but in 1821.
He clarified that Biden has already notified the impossibility of attending, and in his representation the Secretary of the State Department, Anthony Blinken, will do so.
He explained that all this year is of national commemorations because they are remembering the 700 years of the founding of Mexico Tenochtitlan, the 500 years of its fall due to the Spanish invasion are also commemorated, and the 200 years of our independence with the Grito de Dolores by priest Miguel Hidalgo on September 15/16, 1810.
He reported that in each event that is celebrated in this month of the fatherland, heads of state such as those of Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Ecuador, now Cuba, have been invited, and those invitations began with the son of Martin Luther King to Oaxaca for the anniversary of the murder of Vicente Guerrero.
He said that Mexico cannot invite some and not others because there is a relationship of friendship with all the peoples of the world and that the one with Cuba dates back many years; We are free and sovereign, we have our principles and that should be known by everyone, especially the rulers, he said.
He announced that the Cuban ruler will deliver a speech just like the other previous guests did, and especially because Mexico has a long-standing friendly relationship with the Cuban government.
He recalled a historical anecdote according to which the ambassador who most defended President Francisco I Madero was the Cuban, and his family, after he was assassinated, went to Cuba, and that relationship was maintained by General Lázaro Cárdenas and Adolfo López Mateo, the president who gave the order for Mexico to vote in the OAS against his expulsion.
We are not anyone’s lackeys and Mexico is an independent, free and sovereign country with a clear foreign policy in which he reaffirms the statement made by Benito Juárez that between individuals as well as between nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.
What happens, he said, is that corrupt conservative politicians have moved away from that principled foreign policy enshrined in the Constitution.
He recommended to the people of Mexico not to miss the celebration of 15-16 by the Grito de Dolores because although without an audience, it will be very exceptional, there will be surprises and he asked the radio and television stations to transmit it so that all Mexicans could see.