Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel reiterated Wednesday his appreciation for both the aid sent by his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, and the solidarity expressed by prominent Mexican figures toward the Caribbean island.

In a message published on his social media accounts, the head of state declared: "Mexico's solidarity with Cuba can only be compared in magnitude to its opposite: the U.S. government's determination to suffocate us."

"Like the aid sent by the dear Claudia Sheinbaum, the appeal by the newspaper La Jornada accompanies and encourages our resistance like a brotherly embrace," Díaz-Canel added.

"THANK YOU, MEXICO. ALWAYS," the Cuban president concluded.

The Mexican newspaper La Jornada published an appeal last Tuesday under the title "Cuba's Fate Is Not Foreign to Us," signed by dozens of prominent Mexican figures, among them writer Elena Poniatowska, social scientist and historian Enrique Semo, and Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet, among others.

The text issues "a firm call for solidarity with the Cuban people and for an end to arrogant and aggressive unilateralism," adding: "We support and call upon others to back all governmental or civic actions undertaken with the aim of protecting the well-being, integrity, and human dignity of the people of Cuba."

The signatories also publicized a bank account under the name of the civil association Humanidad con América Latina, with the aim of channeling financial contributions from those who wish to cooperate in the purchase of food, medicine, electrical generators, and other essential goods "for the resistance of our brothers and sisters."

Over the past several weeks, the administration led by Sheinbaum has dispatched multiple shipments totaling hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba in response to the hardships stemming from the economic, financial, and commercial blockade imposed by the United States against the largest of the Antilles — a blockade that has intensified with recent restrictions on fuel supplies.

On March 5, Sheinbaum reaffirmed that her country would continue providing solidarity assistance to Cuba in the face of the economic and energy crisis gripping the island as a result of the tightening of the U.S.-imposed blockade.

"There is a hallmark of the Mexican people, and that is fraternity. Mexico, our people, is characterized by that — by helping others, by supporting one another as a family — and that is reflected in our foreign policy," the president declared from the National Palace.