In an interview with Prensa Latina, Meade praised ‘pass very correct and valuable’ simultaneous announcement made on 17 December last year by the Cuban president, Raul Castro, and American, Barack Obama, to start the thaw.
He recalled that Mexico, the only country in Latin America that never broke diplomatic relations with Cuba in times of strong US pressure, always advocated a climate of understanding and harmony among nations with which it shares land and sea borders.
The Mexican Foreign Secretary stressed that the process of talks between Havana and Washington ‘opens the possibility for a bilateral meeting for a regional dialogue and in the specific case of Mexico, for a constructive dialogue between our two neighbors’.
Once concrete and formalize the rapprochement between two governments that are spaced over 50 years, that allow “many issues that have trilateral nature now can be addressed with everyone at the table,” he added the head of Mexican diplomacy.
Issues such as border security, sailing through the Gulf of Mexico, combating drug trafficking, piracy and organized crime are issues on the agenda of Mexico, USA and Cuba, in the chancellor opinion, hereinafter shall be easier treatment.
Meade traveled to Beirut for a working visit aimed at following up on the process of deepening bilateral relations and progress towards the consolidation of the same.
Havana and Washington are prepared to hold the 21st of this month the third round of talks as part of the process to restore diplomatic ties and reopening embassies in the respective capitals.
However, Cuban authorities have unequivocally stated that the normalization of these ties presupposes the lifting of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed on the island for over half a century, and the return of the Guantanamo naval base.
In addition, the White House should withdraw Cuba from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism made unilaterally and ensure the banking operations of the Cuban mission in Washington, now hampered as a result of the blockade.