Over Cuba, Mexico eventually found itself completely alone in the regional body [OAS]. To some extent, President López Mateos reacted to the sympathy stirred by the 1959 Cuban Revolution among Mexican leftists and nationalists. But he was also following tradition by challenging Washington's application of the Monroe Doctrine to justify its new intervention in the region. In April 1961, the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion provoked strong protests in Mexico (even the aging President Cárdenas offered to help defend the island). In 1962, Mexico and five other countries opposed an OAS resolution suspending Cuba from the organization for "exporting" revolution to Venezuela. Two years later, Mexico was the only country to ignore a mandatory OAS resolution ordering all members to break relations with the Castro regime. Between 1964 and 1970, when Chile's new Allende government recognized the Castro regime, Mexico was Cuba's only formal link to Latin America.
Distant Neighbors: A Portrait of the Mexicans, 1984, p. 497
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Salvador Almaraz López, La expedición del yate Granma a Cuba, 1982, Museo de la Hermandad Mexico-Cuba, Tuxpan, acrylic mural |





