 Welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. CodePink's weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region. In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas. We broadcast every Wednesday at 4.30pm Pacific, 7.30pm Eastern on CodePink YouTube Live. Today we're broadcasting a very special episode to you on Thursday. Today's episode, Amlo announces he will not attend Biden's Summit of the Americas. This morning from Mexico City in his daily press briefing, the President of Mexico in response to a question from the media stated he would not be attending Biden's Summit of the Americas. He said, quote, if they are all not there, I will not be there. It's on the heels of a successful tour of Central America and Cuba. Today we are very fortunate to be joined in conversation by Jesus Ramirez. Jesus is the spokesperson for the President of Mexico. So it's a great honor that he is joining us. He is officially the director of social communications of the Mexican government. He is also a former journalist with La Jornada and he is a documentarian. So it's a great honor to welcome Jesus this afternoon and especially on the afternoon of this momentous press comment. So welcome Jesus. So let's maybe start with with what happened this morning and then I'd like to go back and talk about the actual tour. The this morning it was a wonderful thing to see all over social media and then when we finally got the official press summary late morning to read that the President of Mexico will not be attending the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. And can you tell us a little bit about the President's what his feeling is about this and what he is hoping to achieve with this decision. Well then what we want to do today is to talk a little bit about what happened this morning with the President and his declarations and the President of Mexico and then back to the topic of the tour that he is currently doing in Central America and in the Caribbean. So this morning we saw a wonderful thing on social media that is the declaration of the President of Mexico, López Sodor, that he would not be attending the Summit of the Americas this year and then we also saw it in his official declaration. I'm going to talk a little bit about that. Well, first of all, the President and I are not going to point out that the relationship with Mexico and therefore Latin America is no longer a relationship of equal, of respect to sovereignty and no longer this relationship of dominion and of being considered the rear party of the United States. This is, let's say, the first term, the second in front of the call of the Summit of the Americas, President López Obrador has indicated that he has to reflect that new spirit, to go into a new relationship with respect to sovereignty and the self-determination of Latin American countries and in that condition he has to establish a dialogue between equal and based on respect and above all in understanding the search for common solutions to common problems. In such a way that what President López Obrador has questioned is that this new relationship that the continent requires is not reflected in the call of the Summit of the Americas where it has excluded three countries, Manicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba and what is beyond being against or in favor or questioning the political system, the action of each government, of each country. In this case, of these three countries pointed out, what it is about is to address the common issues of the continent and then not obey anyone as an indispensable condition to take into account the dialogue in favor of democracy, human rights, economic cooperation and the overcoming of the problems that the region faces. And this is part of a statement that President López Obrador has made. Today the international commerce, the engine of the international economy of production is in Asia. It has left the center of the economic epicenter of the world and this displacement, we see with concern, President López Obrador sees with concern this situation and sees that for the economic reliance of the Americas it requires a continental understanding where instead of confrontation and division, we look for the points of encounter, the points from which we are equal. That is the starting point because he says if these conditions were not given to the Americans, I would not feel summoned, I would not go as long as there is this spirit. This is not new. Other invocations of the Americans are included, countries today excluded, in such a way that there are already evidences that this can be possible and precisely because of them that it is appealing to a circumstance of understanding that the relations between the countries of the continent to favor the unity of the whole continent, what is the purpose of Mexico? Yes, I'm going to interrupt to be able to translate a little for all the people who hear us. So just to summarize, let me just go back here. In regard to the declaration that was made today by President López Obrador, it starts with the fact that Joe Biden has already laid out what the relationship with Mexico is or in this particular case is not. It is not a relationship of equals according to what has been the things that have been said and it's not respectful of Mexico's sovereignty. So that's the starting point there. In order to convoke all of these countries, these nations belonging to the Americas, you need to reflect the spirit in which they are called to come together. Beginning with the respect for the sovereignty of all these nations and a dialogue among equals and which is a piece that's missing and there needs to be mutual respect and a desire to work towards common solutions. Including economic and regional integration. So what President López Obrador has questioned essentially is the starting point of these relationships. If one is being convoked in the spirit, that's already missing because already there are three countries that have been excluded, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. And rather than being, you know, the spirit of that, that these different nations want to bring together rather than being for or against a particular nation is to deal with topics that are relevant to all these nations to the different countries that make up the Americas. And that is not to be vetoing any different nations. So that is a necessary starting point. And if that's not there, then it doesn't seem that convoking, you know, essentially in words that that's a spirit. When the reality doesn't reflect that it doesn't seem that it's going to be productive because the starting points are not there. Additionally, the economy today is in trouble, right? So America is no longer the epicenter of the economy worldwide. And this of course is worrisome for Mexico. The Americas, if the economy is to be relaunched rather than confrontation between nations, what is needed is the ability to sit down together and find common ground. And that is the actual spirit of this. So otherwise it doesn't make sense. I have a follow-up question. This is a really profound explanation and definition for the announcement today. And so much of this to me is an outpouring of or a fall, you know, of continuance of the president's discourse of 24 July 2021. And it was a significant day that he chose to address other foreign dignitaries and world leaders in their fields. And he did specifically, this was the 238th anniversary of Simón Bolivar's birth. It was a significant day to make these announcements. He did specifically talk about the United States no longer being the world economic leader and what needed to happen within the Americas to adjust to that. And he also specifically talked about needing to abolish or possibly reform the OAS and create an institution in the Americas for all America. And it seems to me that that discourse in July of last year really was not just the president's vision, but he was really laying out his foreign policy. Okay. What Terri wants to ask is more than a question, it's an observation. It's relating to today's declarations, connecting them with the discourse of 24 July 2021 in which President López Obrador directed himself to other foreign dignitaries, always on the anniversary of Simón Bolivar's birth. And in that discourse he also said that the United States is no longer the world economic leader and what needs the Americas, the nations of the Americas, is to abolish the Organization of American States or reform it. And also that there is a need for an institution that can represent all the Americas, not only some parties of the Americas or some nations. Essentially, what he was doing was giving an understanding of what his foreign policy was. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Well, the speech of President López Obrador on Simón Bolivar's birthday last year had the purpose of calling the United States, leaving that division between Latin America and North America and looking for a cultural, economic, social integration in a certain way of all the Americas, because the diagnosis is clear. This is part of the global analysis. The weight of the global economy is above all located in Asia. So, in front of this decrease in the American influence, we come from more than a century of American hegemony. The consequences of what this reality could cause are also at risk to Latin America and the whole world. There is also a concern for the United States. We are not only seeing it as selfish or unilateral to Mexico or Latin America, but the concern is that the lack of economic leadership of the United States would want to overcome or sink by the military or by the force. To avoid this, what is proposed is that the potential of Latin America today is very large, which can be a great economic region of technological development, a great engine that counterfeits this economic hegemony that we see in Asia. And that is why a new dialogue is required, new international institutions are required to stop using international organizations such as the American Organization of States as a political instrument to pressure local governments, but to seek the modification, the reform or the change to institutions, in this case the VA, so that there are really institutions that represent and integrate all countries. And that, well, beyond the political regime of each one, to seek the common good of the region, we are talking about the best economic and political practices with respect to human rights and democracy, but on this basis of this dialogue, not on imposition. And what we see with the call to the summit of the Americas is to repeat the history of imposing vetoes and imposing conditions, and this is no longer acceptable for the president of Mexico. Thank you. Sorry, just give me a moment and my apology. Yeah, so what Jesus was saying is that essentially, yes, it's true that in this speech, essentially what it really was, was a call for unity of the Americas and a movement away from the divisions that one sees there at this moment. Right now with, you know, there is a need for integration and that integration needs to be cultural, it needs to be economic. In terms of what the, you know, what's ailing the Americas, the diagnosis is clear. The global economy is affected by the situation of the US's decline. They had over 100 years of hegemony. You know, it's been over 100 years of economic hegemony. And it's not just the US that is affected by this current situation. This is affecting the global economy. So it doesn't just put the US at risk. It also puts Latin America at risk. It puts the entire world at risk. And so it is important in this particular situation not to pursue unilateral relationships. Instead, there's a lack of leadership in the economy. And we need to move away from this. Again, move away from these unilateral relationships or the sanctioning of individual countries or whatnot and moving towards dialogue, new continental institutions that can represent, you know, all these nations that can help to integrate them. And also that recognizes the immense economic potential of Latin America, right? That it can act as a balance to other growing economies and participate in the global economy. So more than each individual country pursuing its, you know, beyond the fact that every nation has its own individual politics that they are sovereign, there is the need for finding common ground and having dialogue on all sorts of topics. And of course this includes economic matters. It includes human rights, but there has to be this movement away from a model in which different nations are essentially told and moving towards dialogue, common ground and respect for sovereignty. Thank you, Pamela. I'm going to try and keep my comments a little shorter because I have a lot of follow-up questions for Senor Ramirez. It's really wonderful everything that he's sharing with us. So he, so Jesus has mentioned need for regional, cultural and economic integration. And that came out of the July 24, 2021 discourse. What we saw that following September was the reconvening of Salak here in Mexico City by the president of Mexico. And a number of things that came out of that summit were exactly what he said. And so as far as using perhaps, using Salak to be that institution for regional integration, cultural integration, economic integration. And I wonder if he can comment a bit about the reconvening of Salak in September and the results of that summit. Very well. You commented on the need to see regional, cultural and economic integration. In September, the president of Mexico called Salak again. And in that meeting, there were many things that came out of that that are, as it is said, that reflect what you said about regional, economic integration, etc. If you could comment a bit about that, about the relationship with Salak and the possibilities that exist. Well, Salak has launched this institution of cooperation of Latin American interests, or of the Caribbean as Latin America and of North America, in the idea of generating new forms of cooperation. And I think both at the bilateral level and at the regional level, there have been advances. One very significant one is considering migration as a regional issue, of each country. And in that sense, the solution is to go, the purpose of Mexico is to go to the root of the cause of migration, to attend the causes of migration and not to be, let's say, blocked in the response of, let's say, control of migratory flows and the use of the force or the expulsion of massive migrants as a response, to go to the cause to avoid migration. And that is a situation from Salak. There are also other actions that have been carried out in Salak. For example, the constitution of a commission for the development of the aerospace industry. But also in terms of analyzing and advancing in the best practices to take advantage of the coasts of the continent, that have, let's say, been taken advantage of for economic development, for the food of our peoples. In short, the technological improvement of industrial development and also to look for another type of exchange of experiences. And well, it is about constituting an organism, to strengthen this organism, that not only reduces the diplomatic policy, but advances to other cooperation that allow, well, now the mutual help between countries but also the articulated solutions from the region. Very well, thank you. Yes, so the, you know, the Salak has been relaunched, so this body that's meant to bring about cooperation in Latin America, the Caribbean, so in the region, and it, you know, it's meant to have bilateral relationships, it's meant to move away from sort of, you know, unilateral relationships towards a regional approach. And you can see that reflected, for example, on the issue of migration. So one thing that came out of the Salak meeting was the desire to get to the root of the problem of, you know, mass migration and not get caught up in issues of how to control it or the use of force or these mass expulsions of people who are migrating. So that's one of the things is the potential that there exists to be able to find solutions to these issues by also getting to the root of the problems, seeing what needs to happen in order to stop the problem. And it's not just, you know, about the migration issue, for example, you could also see that there were discussions about industrial development, you know, technological advances, developing best practices for the region. So it's a matter of strengthening this body, increasing cooperation so that we can see a strong exchange of ideas, of experiences. It should result also in, you know, mutual aid between nations and that way so that the region can advance together and work together. So this theme of integration, cooperation and embracing multilateralism, these themes that came out of SELAC seem to really clearly reflect the president's tour that he just completed in Central America and Cuba, and particularly immigration visiting Guatemala and Honduras and also with mutual aid medical aid coming out of Cuba, I believe there was an agreement for Cuba to provide 500 doctors to Mexico. So I wonder if we can talk about each country that the president visited just briefly and what the principal, I want to say take away, but that's not going to translate for you, Pamela, and what the principal objective or the key idea of cooperation. So Guatemala, I believe with Guatemala there was an agreement to include Guatemala migrants here in Mexico access to the Social Security System, IMSA. Honduras was fabulous recognition of the newly elected Castro government and in Cuba of course it's always wonderful when Cuba is recognized so highly, but I do believe there was a medical aid agreement with Cuba that more COVID vaccines would be coming to Mexico as well as 500 doctors. Perfect, okay. Parece ser que estos temas de la cooperación, la integración, el multilateralismo, los podemos ver reflexionados ahí en el actual tour del presidente, no? Por ejemplo, sobre el tema de la migración, el presidente ha visitado Guatemala y Honduras. Sobre el tema de la ayuda mutua también ha visitado a Cuba, donde parece, si hemos entendido bien, hay un acuerdo entre los dos países Cuba ayudará con doctores, o sea, ayudará a México mandando a doctores al país, pero también más vacunas. También, o sea, lo que quiere saber Terry es si usted puede hablar brevemente sobre cada país que ha visitado el presidente y cuáles son los objetivos principales en cada país, o cuál es la idea de cooperación, si puede comentar en particular comentando un poquito sobre cada país individualmente. Bueno, primero un fenómeno que tanto México como el triángulo norte de Centroamérica compartimos el tema de la migración y eso afecta Estados Unidos. El gobierno de la PSOE ha insistido en la necesidad de atender las causas invirtiendo en el desarrollo humano en el campo generando empleos capacitando a los jóvenes creando condiciones para que la gente no se ve obligada a migrar. Y esto ha sido algo que tanto el gobierno de Donald Trump como el gobierno demócrata de Joe Biden ha insistido Estados Unidos el Congreso probó una inversión contra millones de dólares pero es la fecha en que aún hoy no se ve un solo dólar de inversión. Entonces en esta gita el presidente lo que ha hecho es el énfasis en México y ha invertido en programas modelo sembrando vida que es un programa de reforestación y de reconstrucción del tejido social. ¿Por qué? porque está invirtiendo en el campo para generar condiciones para que la gente no tenga que migrar. Entonces ha invertido Hoy fuimos a Guatemala en Guatemala se firmó un convenio para que haya 10,000 jóvenes o digo 10,000 campesinos puedan ser beneficiarios con dinero mexicano 30 millones de dólares que se van a invertir ahí para poder sembrar árboles maderables o frutales para producir alimentos y poder consumirlos para entender el excedente de tal manera genera una economía en el caso del Salvador ya funciona este programa de hecho la evaluación que hizo el presidente Buque sobre el programa sembrando vida y jóvenes construyendo el futuro que en el caso de jóvenes construyendo el futuro son invertir una beca para jóvenes para capacitación en el trabajo en centros laborales y en los cuales son casi 450 centros laborales en los que hay 10,000 jóvenes actualmente trabajando, capacitándose que son becados por el gobierno mexicano para aprender tener habilidades para el trabajo y otros 10,000 campesinos del Salvador que están sembrando café, cacao, maíz y otros productos agropecuarios y frutales que les permitan tener una economía disponible y una economía para poder sostenir a sus familias la evaluación que hizo ayer Buque le del programa de la primera parte de este programa es muy exitosa 90% de las personas que hoy participan en este programa ya no quieren migrar entonces producto de este programa que además la característica de este programa es que no se hace a través del gobierno del Salvador tampoco se hace a través de organizaciones no gubernamentales ni de agencias de cooperación el gobierno mexicano construye un mecanismo para que directamente le llegue al campesino al joven la beca y eso hace la diferencia de otros programas de desarrollo que se han implementado en el pasado que estaban atravesados o que su eficiencia estaba dificultada por la corrupción por la mediación de diferentes actores que asesores consultores que finalmente son los que se llevan los recursos económicos y los beneficiados se quedan al final y aquí se invierte directamente en la gente se le da asesoría técnica y ha sido muy eficaces y muy interesantes de tal manera que por ejemplo se va a continuar este apoyo de otros 30 millones de dólares que he invertido el gobierno mexicano para 10.000 jóvenes que trabajan y 10.000 campesinos que están sembrando y el gobierno del Salvador va a poner otros 30 millones para ampliar estas becas a 20.000 personas también es una manera de decirle al gobierno de los Estados Unidos esto sí funciona son programas sociales las agencias de cooperación estadounidenses han evaluado como programas exitosos tienen los elementos técnicos y de análisis que los han colocado como de los mejores programas sociales del mundo de acuerdo a análisis que se han hecho en el departamento de estado y de cooperación en un site y que lo que queremos es que el incentivo que ahora el Salvador va a aumentar las becas y el gobierno de los Estados Unidos ya se convenza de que es el camino para resolver la crisis de migración que hoy tenemos y en el caso de Honduras que comienza a ver que Jesús Salvador lo voy a interrumpir para poder traducir y después podemos continuar podemos volver al tema de Honduras Ya Perfect Just going back to the very beginning because we started off talking about migration both Mexico and the so-called Northern Triangle deal with the issue of migration but it also affects the US so the approach that the Mexican government has wanted to take is one of human development their goal is to create jobs, get to the root of the problems and work that way rather than as stated earlier dealing with the issue through you know through forests, through expulsions, etc So just to give a few examples the government has of Mexico has already there was an agreement for $4 billion to go towards this kind of development unfortunately that Jesús si entendido bien los 4 mil millones de dólares lo se se hace un compromiso de gobierno de estados unidos ya aprobado por el congreso hasta la unidad justamente ok, si, quería asegurarme so essentially the US government had approved already $4 billion to help with these issues unfortunately that money has not been delivered so what Mexico is doing is focusing on creating the conditions for people to be able to stay in their countries and one of these projects to give an example is Sembrando Vida, Cultivating Life is the name of it and it's essentially a reforestation program it's a program that you know always an IT development and building up the economy so for example today they signed an agreement with Guatemala where 10,000 campesinos or essentially what's the word I don't like using the word peasants but campesinos farmers, land workers have been signed on to this and what they will do is be learning how to and be given the resources to be able to replant forest so reforestation be able to plant fruit orchards etc and this program is based on the already successful agreement and program that has been launched with El Salvador always the Sembrando Vida program they've already been doing this and essentially what Mexico has done is created a series of scholarships or grants that allow them that are distributed through a number of labor centers there's already 400 labor centers and they're making their way to 10,000 young workers and again to 10,000 campesinos so in the case of the young workers what they're learning is the trade they're essentially learning how to do this reforestation and that would then is used to build an economy and then the campesinos what they're doing is planting coffee, cocoa corn etc so the first part or the first phase of the program has been an enormous success 90% of the people who enrolled in the program who initially wanted their plan was to migrate now want to be able to stay in their homes they feel that they are able to stay there so in that sense it has been an enormous success one of the important pieces of this program is that it was not the money hasn't been delivered to workers via the government El Salvador it hasn't been delivered via NGOs or different it hasn't been mediated through different groups and that was in the past has been one of the problems is that when you have issues of corruption or what not that money doesn't necessarily make it to the people it's meant to help in this case it's a direct investment so the government of Mexico has bypassed these different parties and ensures that the money is getting to the people it is meant to serve so the 10,000 workers, young workers the campesinos etc and it's been such an enormous success that they've updated the agreement with El Salvador so the government has agreed, Mexico has agreed to invest 30 million dollars more which is what they initially invested for another 10,000 workers, young workers and campesinos but El Salvador has agreed to match that so they too will be investing in 20,000 people through this program and I think one of the key things about to emphasize as Susa said is that the program works and it has been recognized to work by different bodies, by analysts in the US, by the Department of State they've evaluated it they have recognized it as one of the best programs of its type in the world and it is an enormous success so this is the kind this is precisely the kind of model that President El Salvador and the government want to show to the world so that was that piece on what the Malan El Salvador so I'll go back so that we can continue to discuss, we said we were going to continue with Onludas So you might have a follow up I do I have a follow up question because this really sounds the reforestation project one, the success of it is just wonderful news to hear and congratulations to your government for such an enormous achievement and the participating governments the reforestation and these projects to keep people at home, this was something specifically addressed during the President's inauguration address when he was first elected and so finding ways to keep people at home I think what did he say migration by choice not migration of need and it seems like through this reforestation project that is being accomplished and also just regarding reforestation I'm living here in Mexico City and I have seen the enormous improvements to Bosque Chapultepec and the expansion of the forest and I'm wondering if that is a domestic project of a similar orientation okay let's see if he has time first of all first of all to say that this is a great news and congratulations to the government of President López Obrador in his inaugural speech when he was recently elected President President Amlo said that one of his goals was that people could remain in their country of origin that migration was a decision and not a need and it seems that this is being accomplished through this type of reforestation in fact Terry who lives in Mexico in the city of Mexico has realized that in the city of Mexico it seems that the forest is growing and I wanted to know if this is a domestic project if it is part of this type of project and if you can comment a little bit well in Honduras this program is starting to seem alive and well in Cuba something that will be interesting is an adaptation of this productive program both of wood as fruit trees and food production then it will adapt to the conditions of Cuba because the model that is alive is a model of where Campesino integrates a campesino learning center with other producers that are inside the program in such a way that through mutual help and cooperation they achieve better conditions to cultivate to produce for example because the focus is that it is needed let's say these biological fertilizers that have to be built or built or worked in a collective way because to reduce costs and improve efficiency and then all this knowledge is done through technical history and these communities of Campesino learning that are in charge of going on the one hand strengthening the knowledge taking back the knowledge of the Campesinos on the land on the production on the species that are seeding and with technical history to improve the practices that they have and at the same time to give a follow-up because each plant each tree has a different production cycle if you talk about a coffee you will see a coffee in three years and it will be producing from this investment in the medium time so that it gives fruits it is not only a support to produce in the harvest of the half-year but it has to be continued to strengthen this work because it is a work of reforestation but at the same time of reconstruction of the social fabric of the arrival to the field of integrating young people to the field because today as in the world and in Central America is not the exception and the young people have abandoned the field or want to abandon the field they do not see it their life project is not in the field and here what it is about to fall in love with young people that in the field it is possible to have a dignified life to have an economically prosperous life and that at the same time because a quality of life and strengthen the communities because issues like insecurity like the participation in the solution of other types of common problems then it requires any democratic process in the case of the focus that we do from Mexico is that it requires not only the political participation of the citizen but the constitution of collective actions to be able to solve the common problems then the model of growing life components where collective participation and the constitution of community is very important to have a better quality of life and face the problems of droughts or storms or natural disasters in a collective way so wow I'm just making a note that so much of this sounds like the early when Chavez first came to the presidency in Venezuela we heard so much of a very similar voice and it's just really exciting to hear you articulate these programs that are benefiting the average person in each country's economy giving them reason to stay home with their families, with their countries to develop themselves and it's just really it's really a really wonderful thing and I'm so happy that you're able to share this with our audience today maybe we should continue with Honduras and then Cuba because I know I'm like I could just talk to you into the evening quite frankly that you have important work to do today let's continue with Honduras and then Cuba I'm sorry I want to talk maybe just one thing to note for the audience is just that that the this program has been extended to Honduras as well and it's being adapted to Cuba and I think we can build on that Jesus for reasons of time we know that you are well occupied we will continue to skip the issue of Honduras and Cuba Terry was there anything in particular that you wanted to Yes I wonder if he can comment on the new government in Honduras I know that's probably more of a diplomatic question but just the recognition of the new government and what the Mexican government sees possible and then with Cuba if we could specifically talk about the medical aid agreement with vaccines and doctors Ok First of all with the issue of Honduras there is a new government and if I could comment a little bit about the possibilities that the government of Mexico in this sense what are the possibilities that you see in Honduras with the new government Well there is a in Honduras established in these social programs there is a conincidence let's say the government that arrived in Honduras the new Honduran government comes from a movement of resistance very similar to ours so there is a natural identification regarding the challenges of this new administration called attention most of its employees are young who have a democratic and popular vocation and that somehow this idea of restoring political participation there is a government that attends the needs of the people has of course without knowing the background that has a social support popular obviously of hierarchy and resistance of the traditional political system and the judicial power that opposes these changes but we consider that the government as we have shown has enough force to carry out the changes it happens that one of the coincidences in these changes is the reform that the current Honduran government proposes a reform of the electric industry and there the president we also have a process of change of the electric industry we try a constitutional reform that was rejected the majority of the congress the majority was achieved but not enough to carry out this constitutional reform and we have a law that has already been passed the Supreme Court as constitutional and that allows us to take the rectory of the Mexican state about the destiny of the industry because it had already lost the fact that private companies had dominated or dominated the businesses and also the investments and that also represented in high costs for consumers this coincidence in Honduras led the government to the president of the Supreme Court to pronounce the protocol in favor of the reform coincidences between the social objectives economic and even political and well obviously also in favor of the dialogue of all the Americans and of the Latin American integration but also with America in the North in a kind of economic and political community Latin and North American and in the case of Cuba I would not leave Belize because Belize is a small country that nobody cares about that is trying to connect to the Mayan train that is being built in the west of Mexico it will incursion in this aspect the program with 2,000 producers living but both in Guatemala like in El Salvador, like in Honduras and in particular here in Belize they took economic measures to make the exchange to be eliminated so that the most successful products those countries can be imported to Mexico in a way more advantageous for those countries for example in Guatemala the importation of cattle is important because in the south there is a deficit of cattle in the illegal market so to rest the cattle the cattle they will open their legs to make more cattle so they also take that kind of agreement in the case of Cuba Cuba is special because on the one hand we have a historical relationship of 120 years uninterrupted we have been the only nation in America and on the other hand regardless of the political changes in Cuba it has maintained relations despite the fact that organizations like the OEA or the US government have pressured for the rupture of diplomatic relations Mexico has always been always maintained this relationship so there is a strong historical cultural link also because the Cuban music is also Mexican or sometimes the Mexican culture is Cuban and then there is also a cultural identification and there is a identification of certain aspects of the imaginary of the fight for independence that unites us the figure of José Martí the fight against Spanish colonialism and the fact that Cuba was for four centuries the epicenter the capital of the new Spain this also makes a strong link permanently in our historical relations and then in this context what happened in Cuba is that they made a medical agreement they made agreements to carry out this program and in the case of the advantages of medical technology in Cuba Mexico will take advantage of those advantages and also to satisfy a need that today we have that are vaccines for children older than 12 years that today are very scarce in the market in fact there is only one laboratory approved worldwide by Pfizer for older than 5 years and then if there is a need and a pressure due to the evolution of the virus of SARS-CoV-2 of attending this population that has not been attended then the Cubans the Republic of Cuba has a technology already developed of the vaccine and well it already has in fact 5 vaccines developed including the nasal that in case that it shows its effectiveness and is approved by the organisms of health care doctors that have to do because it will import to Mexico and that will also facilitate the vaccination of the population at a massive level at a lower cost then these advantages are the ones that were agreed and on the other hand the fact that there are more students of special medicine specialities of cardiology of internal medicine specialities that in Mexico there is a deficit of specialist doctors that today in the middle of the pandemic we have paid for to expand the number of vaccines in 3,000 to Cuba this is one of the agreements and well in addition to these medical agreements there has been a a declaration of common purposes to develop the exchange of technological advantages and production and well in that agreed and on the other hand there is a detail that I would like to just mark where the President López Obrador proposed the need for the renovation of the Cuban Revolution within the Cuban Revolution that is to say that it is the time to relaunch that internal political process with the participation of the people and according to their own decision but that yes, well I will not stop pointing out something that is very significant for a government that comes from the left and that in addition it sympathizes with the processes with similar governments in this case he made a respectful approach to the idea of this revolution because well it has cultural roots and important policies and that let's say I said with these words the Mexican government does not or the president of Mexico does not put destruction or or finish with the Cuban Revolution is a process that has to be respected internally but that yes has to be observed what are their mistakes or what should be their new horizons with the participation of the people and that is what the President proposed something that is interesting on the other hand something that although it did not have in any military relevance for the first time they visited the Secretary of National Defense of Mexico and the Marine Secretary visited Cuba had not occurred in the history but it was not about military issues or much less it is a kind of approach but not in that field but of knowledge of these realities and well it is interesting what happens lots there really fabulous wow have a big wow on my notebook so going back to Honduras once again there has been the establishment of the same programs that we see the what is it what was it the Reforestation program that's right cultivating life that we see in El Salvador and that is also going to be launched in Guatemala and in a varied in a in an adjusted way also in Cuba in terms of the new government in Honduras like the government in Mexico it comes out of a resistance resistance movement and so there are similar challenges and also similar approaches right so a lot of new young representatives representatives coming out of popular movements and therefore there's also a new approach it has the social backing of people at the same time it faces resistance from the oligarchy from the judicial bodies that have existed but the government itself is strong enough to move forward and moving towards making changes one of those changes that Jesus highlighted is the reform to the to laws that pertain to electricity to that particular sector there's also change underway this has also been an issue in Mexico where they've also been trying to make changes in this same area so in the case of Mexico they didn't have enough of a majority to go to change to make the change the constitutional changes that are necessary but they have introduced a new law Jesus introduced a new law to be able to make this reform yes, well the law was first there was an electric law that was imposed and that ratified the Supreme Court so there is a law that has already been approved that has been ratified and essentially what it's going to do is change the system in such a way that private enterprises and interests are not the ones that are in charge and deals with the costs of large reforms underway and therefore given this similar issue in Honduras the president of Mexico did break with his usual protocol and spoke in favor of this change so he's praised the reforms that are happening in Honduras on this front and also he's spoken in favor of again the ongoing dialogue with Latin America but also with North America because these are issues that are affecting the entire region, the entire America so there's a need to have that dialogue among Latin American nations but also with North American nations one thing that Jesus did highlight that we didn't ask about is Belize, a small country he said that often we don't really necessarily pay attention to some of the agreements there too so essentially Belize has signed on to participate in the Tren Maya project that's happening in southeast Mexico and they are also signing on to the Sembrando Vida with 2,000 producers and the hope is to see a greater exchange of goods they're going to be adjusting quotas or whatnot in order to be so right now one of the issues is for example in terms of beef production the amount that's produced legally for export there's a deficit there whereas the amount that is being produced and delivered irregularly is larger so by increasing quotas between the countries they'll be able to make greater exchanges have more trade between the two and therefore also bring the costs down to people so those are some of the pieces with Belize in terms of Cuba one of the things that Jesus highlighted is that there have been 125 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations regardless of who's been in power so this is a point of pride for Mexico and Cuba and their relations and even though they've been able to maintain this as he said regardless of who's been in power and despite the fact that there has been external pressure on that relationship that has at times pushed for a rupture from the OAS from the US etc and obviously with those many years of a relationship there is a lot of cultural exchange a lot of cultural identification between the two historically also due to the fact that Cuba was the epicenter of what was then known as New Spain or Latin America that this was the place that sort of the epicenter of what we've come to know was Latin America so it's always had those historic ties to the region etc there's also a mutual struggle between the two nations against you know a fight for their independence for their sovereignty and against colonialism so there's much that brings these two nations together in terms of the medical cooperation they have reached medical agreements so Mexico will be helping out with Cuba will be helping out with the vaccines as we know that they've produced five different types of vaccines including the Abdullah vaccine which approved Mexico will be receiving especially because it is aimed toward it is also available to children two years and up and it is one part of the population that has been left out of current vaccination programs because currently at a world level there's only one vaccine that's been approved for children that's Pfizer and therefore there is an entire section of our population that has been neglected in terms of access to vaccines so hopefully if approved this would allow access to young children to the vaccine alongside these medical agreements again there have been an agreement for the Sembrando Vida it'll be adjusted one of the things with this is that there's a sharing through the program there's a sharing of technology a share of knowledge of campesinos are sharing because this is a program that involves so many campesinos they have much to share in terms of knowledge and to with one another with their technology what works, how you plant certain crops because they are all different and so in doing that they can improve their practices they can move towards best practices and they can just continue to prove what that looks like and that of course brings costs down for people let's see here there's also that one point one thing I left out and I forget where exactly it was is that Mexico with these programs too is getting young people reintroducing them to the to rural sites to the countryside because there's been a desire on the part of young people to move away from the rural areas and towards urban areas and one of Mexico's programs part of all of this is to make young people fall in love with the countryside again with the land to get them back to the land so I forgot to mention that but I felt it was an important piece in terms of this medical cooperation with Cuba just going back to that briefly part of the agreement is also more medical students from Mexico going to Cuba so that they can help with the deficit of certain specializations in Mexico for example in cardiology or in internal medicine they do need more specialists in these areas in Mexico and part of that collaboration or cooperation is to have medical students from Mexico go to Cuba where they can specialize in these areas again so it's going to be 3000 students that will be going to Cuba for this program there's once again just to highlight there's a development and an exchange of technology of production etc and then the last point that Jesus made that is very important and also just when explaining it it's important to highlight the respectful manner in which it was made that Mexico is very respectful of the Cuban Revolution they see that as part of their process and it's part of their sovereign process as a nation and so there's deep respect for that and no desire to get in the way of it or for push to an end to the revolution but President López Obrador did highlight that there is a need a renovation of the revolution and that that renovation obviously requires self-reflection a look back at what the process has been what has been fruitful as a part of it and also what have been some of the mistakes in order to be able to relaunch the revolution and be able to see the new ways forward that come through that so that's been one of the key pieces often times when other countries speak about the revolution especially in the context of the US involvement or what not it's often very critical or what not and this is me speaking here at this particular piece but what Jesus highlighted is that this was a very respectful conversation out of that happened with the President and one thing that was historical is that for the first time the Mexican Secretary of Defense visited Cuba this was not a formal military exercise or what not it was a knowledge building exercise it was to see how things are on the ground so again he emphasized that this is not a military agreement or anything like that but it was the first time and therefore it is historical Jesus it seems to me that it was two ministers or the Secretary of Defense of the Navy of the Navy too but they were only accompanying the President they did not sign they did not participate only in the bilateral meeting but there were issues especially the medical issue and there is a issue with the 3 May there are mines of basalt in Cuba and that material serves as the basis of the train so it will be imported from Cuba for the Mayan train and as the Secretary of Defense is in charge of some sections of the Mayan train, that is why it was his participation in that meeting and on the other hand let's say I did not mention the issue that it will be hired 500 of the poorest of Mexico where we have a deficit problem of specialists but we also have a problem that the specialists do not want to go to the poorest and rural areas of Mexico ok perfect so just to elaborate on that just going back very quickly to this historic visit it was the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy or the Marines who visited and again it wasn't a formal military visit agreement signed or anything like that between you know at that level essentially what it was was knowledge building and also related to this development of the Tren Maya the Mayan train some of the mines in Cuba produce basalt for the train so there's going to be some cooperation there some trade there in that area and then just going back to the medical piece there is an agreement for 500 doctors from Cuba to go to Mexico to the poorest zones of the country one because there's a deficit in doctors so there's a lack of doctors in these areas but also because often times you get a situation where doctors don't want to go into these areas in Mexico so there is this cooperation in the look to with an eye to improving the medical care for the poorest most vulnerable in Mexico what an amazing trip it's amazing what you and your government what the president and his delegation accomplished in in just a few days in the region it's really really exciting what is coming so I so impressed I guess motivated I think probably motivated and inspired by the leadership of your president and of your country the leadership that all of you are showing for the entire hemisphere of the Americas right now it's very very inspiring and I so want to thank you for your time today I have a message here from your staff telling me that we have to wrap up and I'm just so thankful that you were available today and enormously thankful for this hour long conversation and everything that you have shared with us and our audience it's just really incredibly valuable for all of us and I'm so thankful for your time a million thanks Jesus I guess what Cherry said this is a great inspiration for everyone that is very motivating to see the leadership of Mexico in the region to see what is happening the projects they are doing it's something it's a very positive development and yes for all of the Americas one thing I should say is just to highlight that if there are any errors in translation those are my responsibility for anybody who's watching right sometimes things are lost in translation or misquoted I'm sure every now and then I added trying to recall all the thoughts and I think it's always important to highlight that translations are never perfect but I hope we've caught the spirit of everything that was said and again if there's anything that was incorrect that's my responsibility okay thank you so much Jesus thank you a pleasure to meet you a million thanks audience and somebody sees this I hope so it's a pleasure a great pleasure a hug a hug to you thank you so much yes a hug to the veterans from Canada too very well for all of the Americas a big hug for the universal homeland thank you so much have a good afternoon bye bye so I want to remind our audience that you've been watching what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean CodePink's weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region we broadcast every Wednesday 4.30 p.m. Pacific 7.30 p.m. Eastern today's has been a special broadcast live from Mexico City with President Amlo Spokesperson Ramirez grand pleasure and honor to have his time today also be sure to catch CodePink radio which broadcasts every Thursday morning 11 a.m. Eastern on WBAI out in New York City and WPFW out of Washington DC both projects can be found on Apple Podcast so thank you everyone and we'll see you next week