HAVANA, Cuba.- The President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador received this Thursday at the National Palace his Cuban counterpart Miguel Diaz-Canel, who pays an official visit, aimed at strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two nations.

The reception ceremony took place in the Yard of Honor, an enclosure surrounded by an archery preserving architectural elements of the 18th century and a site for civic ceremonies and acts of government of the Presidency of the Republic, adorned for the occasion with Cuban and Mexican flags. Mexican ministers and government personalities attended the ceremony.

Diaz-Canel arrived on Thursday in Mexico on an official visit, where he will hold official conversations with his Mexican peer and develop an intense program of exchanges, expression of the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation that historically develop both nations.

Mexico was the only nation in Latin America that did not bend to the American pressure in the early 1960s, when Cuba was expelled from the OAS for maintaining a defense of its sovereignty and integrity.