(3 Feb 2002)
1. Various of Felipe Perez Roque at the Foreign Ministry with other senior functionaries to pay tribute to Cuba's best athletes
2. Felipe Perez Roque awarding javelin world champion
3. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba's Foreign Minister
"Undoubtedly, towards the end of (President) Fox's predecessor's six years in power, relations (Mexico with Cuba) turned cold. President Zedillo thought that relations with Cuba, which were historic at the time, would cause problems for Mexico's relationship with the United States, which was always opposed to Mexico taking an independent position. This definitely turned our relations with Mexico cold".
4. Cutaway of Perez Roque
5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba's Foreign Minister
"During President Fox's first year the situation has definitely changed. Ever since the conversations held between Fox and Castro when Fox came to power. The two agreed to develop a relationship which of late had fallen into a rut."
6. Cutaway
7. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba's Foreign Minister:
"We think that the Fox visit marks an important moment in the improvement of relations between Mexico and Cuba. We appreciate the gesture of a visit to Cuba and we hope that the visit will have positive results and contribute to a closer partnership".
8. Cutaway
STORYLINE:
Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on Saturday described the pending visit of Mexico's President Vicente Fox - due to arrive on Sunday morning - as a major step in rebuilding relations between the two countries.
Roque, speaking at an awards ceremony on Saturday for Cuba's most outstanding athletes, said changes were afoot in the political alliances between Cuba and Mexico.
Mexico was the only Latin American country not to break off diplomatic relations with Cuba after the 1959 revolution.
But relations soured of late, under the mandate of Fox's predecessor, Ernesto Zedillo.
Fox's visited Cuba in February 1999, as the then-governor of Guanajuato.
But his next trip will be a short one - scheduled to last just 24 hours - on which he will be accompanied by Mexico's First Lady and the Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda.
And there is speculation as to whether or not members of the Fox delegation will meet with dissidents during this visit.
Cuba counts Mexico among its closest friends although actual trade between the two countries places it a modest sixth place in a table of leading investors in Cuba.
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