Mexican President Felipe Calderon stopped in Cuba this week, en route to the Colombian port city of Cartagena for the Summit of the Americas.
Calderon’s visit to the island nation is interesting for several reasons. Mexico-Cuba relations were strained in 2002 after then-President Vicente Fox criticized Cuba’s human rights record. That same year, the Mexican leader invited Cuba to attend a summit but, in a private conversation, Fox asked Cuba's Fidel Castro to leave Mexico before then-President George W. Bush arrived. Castro taped the two men talking and later made it public. This trip marks Calderon's first visit to Cuba since he took office nearly six years ago.
