MEXICO CITY (AP) – Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged on Saturday that the island faces “tremendously difficult challenges,” as he arrived for a visit in Mexico.
The Cuban leader blamed the problems on the “blows of nature” and United States (US) economic sanctions.
“I once again thank our brother nation for its solidarity with the Cuban people, who have faced tremendously difficult challenges in the last few years and months, due to a combination of the blows of nature and the effects of the toughened blockade,” Díaz-Canel said at a welcoming ceremony in the Gulf coast city of Campeche.
Díaz-Canel mentioned plans to export crushed stone ballast to Mexico for a train project, and said the two countries “will analyse new goals in areas of common interest”. He also mentioned the Cuban doctors that have been sent to Mexico, and said he would visit them during his visit.
Mexican President Andrés Ma-nuel López Obrador called Díaz-Canel a “distinguished and admired guest” while awarding him the “Order of the Aztec Eagle”, Mexico’s highest honour for foreigners, on Saturday at a ceremony in the Mayan ruin site of Edzna.
