Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Mexico's Calderon to visit Cuba, seek better relations

Mexico's Calderon to visit Cuba, seek better relations
By Jeff Franks
HAVANA | Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon will visit Cuba on
Wednesday for a quick trip to patch up bruised relations with the
communist island and discuss possible business ventures, including oil
deals.

With just seven months remaining in his six-year term, it will be
Calderon's first trip to Cuba after he angrily canceled a planned 2009
visit when the Cuban government suspended flights between the countries
at the height of the swine flu scare.

He is scheduled to meet Cuban President Raul Castro and, according to
press reports, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the leader of Cuba's Roman
Catholic Church. It is not known if he will see former Cuban ruler Fidel
Castro, who retired in 2008 but still meets with visiting leaders.

Calderon will arrive at midday on Wednesday and leave Thursday morning
on his way to Haiti and then attend the Summit of the Americas in
Cartagena, Colombia.

Cuba and Mexico enjoyed friendly relations until the administration of
Vicente Fox, who in 2000 broke the center-left Institutional
Revolutionary Party's 71-year grip on power in Mexico by winning the
presidency.

In 2002, his government angered Fidel Castro by supporting a United
Nations resolution condemning Cuba's human rights record.

That same year Fox, like Calderon a member of the conservative National
Action Party, had a falling out with Fidel Castro. The Cuban leader
recorded Fox telling him in a phone call he was invited to have lunch at
a Mexico-hosted summit, but had to leave before then U.S. President
George W. Bush arrived.

The taped conversation was made public, which provoked a firestorm of
criticism of Fox in Mexico, where Castro is widely respected for having
stood up to the United States for half a century.

THUMBING NOSE AT UNITED STATES

The two countries briefly closed their embassies in 2004, but maintained
official diplomatic relations.

For Mexico, sustaining Cuban ties is a measure of independence from the
United States, which has been at odds with Cuba since the 1959
revolution that brought the Castro brothers to power.

Cuba's nose-thumbing at American pressure resonates with Mexicans, said
Arturo Levy-Lopez, a Cuba expert at the University of Denver.

"Cuba is a symbolic issue. The Cuban revolution as a historic event, and
opposition to American hegemony in Latin America possesses important
political capital in Mexico," he said.

Calderon wants to shore up relations with Cuba before Mexico's
presidential election in July to help out the PAN candidate, who is
trailing in the polls, Levy-Lopez said.

Under Mexican law, he cannot seek another term in office.

"By traveling to Cuba, Calderon, who is a man of his party, affirms the
credibility of the PAN against accusations of subordination to the U.S.
government," said Levy-Lopez.

Calderon's office said in a statement the visit would serve to
strengthen "fraternity" between the two countries and create a "new
agenda" to take advantage of the business opportunities opened up by
economic changes made by Cuba's government.

According to Mexican news reports, these could include work on oil
projects in the Gulf of Mexico.

Daily newspaper La Jornada said Mexico may be considering leasing
exploration blocks in Cuba's part of the gulf, which abuts that of
Mexico and the United States.

A consortium led by Spanish oil company Repsol YPF is drilling the first
of a possible series of wells in Cuba's offshore, which the island says
may hold 20 billion barrels of oil.

Mexican officials downplayed the possibility of any dramatic oil
agreements coming from the visit, but said there might be an accord on
"technical cooperation."

Calderon, whose country has been wracked by drug violence during his
administration, is not believed to plan any meetings with government
opponents in Cuba. Nor is he likely to talk publicly about human rights.

Mexican media said the government might restructure Cuba's $413 million
debt or strike a deal to lower it in exchange for more Mexican
investment in Cuba. Trade between the two countries totaled about $450
million in 2010, Mexican sources said.

(Additional reporting by Rosa Tania Valdes in Havana; Editing by David
Adams and Christopher Wilson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/11/us-cuba-mexico-idUSBRE83A01320120411

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