Mexico versus Cuba and Castro’s senility

By Carlos Luken*
MexidataInfo, La Nueva Cuba


Few people in the diplomatic world were surprised after last week’s highly publicized verbal brawl between Mexico and Cuba.

It was clearly understood by most that Fidel Castro had managed to get caught by willingly involving himself and his government in the internal affairs of another nation.

Too, this was seen as one more Cuban attempt to discredit Mexican President Vicente Fox and his National Action Party (PAN) administration, while at the same time propping-up the image of the left’s Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and the 2006 presidential hopes of Mexico City’s PRD mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Cuba’s meddling on the PRD’s behalf was suspect and unfortunate, understandably leading to Mexico’s diplomatic reproach. However Castro escalated things when he publicly accused Mexico of being a tool of U.S. diplomacy because it supported the recent U.N. resolution condemning Cuba's human rights record.

Castro’s actions were perceived as insulting and inappropriate, and lead to immediate replies from Interior Minister Santiago Creel and Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez, and to the expulsion and recall of each nation’s ambassadors.

The Mexican government also reminded Cuba of its US$450 million debt owed to the National Bank of Foreign Trade (Bancomext).

As the PRD celebrated its 15th Anniversary, party leaders expressed token protests against the Fox government’s actions. On the other hand, whispers have been circulating recently that while the PRD wants to remain a socialist party, its leaders also hope to extricate the party from what is increasingly being proclaimed as a “Castro-Chavez-Lopez Obrador” alliance, which would link Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico into a leftist coalition.

Although the tri-national alliance might make sense to some leftists, who think the oil production capacity of Venezuela and Mexico and their importance as U.S. suppliers are influential negotiating levers, all advantages stop there. In Castro, such an alliance would have a senile leader from the poorest member country.

Castro is an anachronism who has clearly been unable to evolve and assimilate globalization, free trade, human rights and democracy. It would have in Chavez, a fanatical cohort who besides his inability to comprehend cannot negotiate without physical force. And in Lopez Obrador it would have an unscrupulous populist.

On the other hand, Fidel Castro is slowly isolating himself on his island. Lately his human rights history has unquestionably separated him from other Latin American nations, and all this has denied him diplomatic legitimacy. He has also stubbornly provoked his own segregation by lashing out at the countries that supported the U.N. resolution critical of his human rights record, those among others being the U.S., Mexico, Peru, Honduras, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.

The Fox administration has been under constant scrutiny, and often criticized, due to its willingness to support the Bush administration. Still, when asked about reports claiming that Mexico's expulsion of the Cuban ambassador was part of the recently announced anti-Castro plan of the U.S., foreign minister Derbez said: "If anyone says that we will send a diplomatic note requesting a clarification."

As the Cuban ambassador was unceremoniously departing, Derbez emphasized that Mexico has not severed ties with Cuba and that the relationship would be reduced strictly to business matters for a time. Officials did not set any limitations on travel between the two countries, and Derbez suggested in a letter to his Cuban counterpart, Felipe Perez Roque, that officials from both countries should work together to improve the stressed diplomatic relationship.

Mexico and other nations have faced a dilemma for some time. On one hand Fox and other Latin American leaders fervently believe that democracy and market-oriented economies are the means to regional advancement, however they also acknowledge that free trade impatience and global heavy-handedness have driven poverty and unemployment levels up. This in turn has fostered leftist wins in democratic elections in Venezuela, Brazil and Peru.

As such, nations with a democratic vocation must walk a fine line in balancing both short and long-term interests, while at the same time making the public and the U.S. understand that there are no quick fixes or short-term solutions.


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* Carlos Luken, a Mexicali, Baja California, based businessman, is the principal in I.L.C. Corporate Real Estate, a project development firm, and I.L.C. Corporate Services, a consulting practice that provides business management, consultancy and lobbying services to global corporations and government agencies. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].