The former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador reappears to ask people to deposit “whatever they can” into a bank account to help the Island
14ymedio, Havana, March 15, 2026 — Mexico delivered last January the final 2,992,844 copies of the 7,105,878 books promised and financed by the Government of Claudia Sheinbaum. According to the organization Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (MCCI), the shipment sent on January 7 was valued at $3.8 million, with a unit price of $1.30 per volume.
MCCI denounced the lack of transparency of the current administration for attempting to conceal that the books were destined for Cuba. The contract states “the acquisition of 7,105,878 copies of 144 educational materials for the improvement of the National Education System,” but never mentions Havana as the final destination.
State coffers were drained of $10,104,587, which adds to the $22 million spent by the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018–2024) for 15 million copies.
The material left from the port of Veracruz and, according to data verified by MCCI from customs records reported by the authorities themselves, its destination in Havana was Editorial Pueblo y Educación, which used to print Cuba’s textbooks.
The material left from the port of Veracruz and, according to data verified by MCCI from customs records reported by the authorities themselves, its destination in Havana was Editorial Pueblo y Educación
The investigation reveals agreements and 13 shipments between 2023 and 2025 to supply books to Cuba through the Comisión Nacional de Libros de Texto Gratuitos (Conaliteg), a decentralized public body coordinated by the Secretaría de Educación Pública, headed by Morena politician Mario Delgado, whose purpose is to print, acquire and distribute free educational materials for Mexico’s national education system. The process also involves Impresora y Encuadernadora Progreso (Iepsa), responsible for producing the books.
Governments of the so-called Fourth Transformation (4T) have spent more than 576.8 million pesos (almost $33 million) on printing nearly 22 million textbooks for the Island, MCCI reported, noting that this figure does not include maritime shipping costs to Cuba.
Mexico’s support for the Cuban regime has also extended to oil supplies, the hiring of doctors and teachers, scholarships for students on the Island, and financing for projects run by the Cuban state company Neuronic.
Neuronic, which is also the regime-controlled company responsible for managing the funds and salaries that Mexico pays to Havana, received $29,938 in 2023 from the López Obrador government for research projects, mainly related to Alzheimer’s disease, and contracts with the Mexican company Birmex worth $5,880,398.
López Obrador himself appears on the front page this Sunday of the official Cuban outlet Cubadebate, having briefly ended his public retirement to ask for help for the Island.
“It hurts me that they seek to exterminate, because of their ideals of freedom and defense of sovereignty, the brotherly people of Cuba,” the former president wrote, adding that “to those who say it is someone else’s quarrel, I remind them of what General Lázaro Cárdenas said during the Bay of Pigs invasion: ‘It is not right to preach indifference toward their heroic struggle, because their fate is ours.’”
The man who promoted sending millions of dollars to the Cuban regime through various agreements has now called on supporters to deposit whatever they can into Banorte account number 1358451779 of the civil association Humanidad con América Latina
López Obrador himself is featured on the front page of the official Cubadebate this Sunday, having put his public retirement on hold to ask for help for the island.
The account, she explained, was opened by citizens, writers, and journalists “to buy food, medicine, oil, and gasoline, and to help the Cuban people. Let everyone contribute what they can!” The initiative was promoted by writer Laura Esquivel and painter Carlos Pellicer—nephew of the poet of the same name—and others, including Elena Poniatowska.
The signatories expressed their rejection of the US government under Donald Trump and its threat to impose tariffs on those who supply Cuba, which they consider an illegal, inhumane, and unjustified measure. They stated that this “latest escalation jeopardizes access to essential goods and services for the island’s inhabitants, harming their right to a dignified and healthy life.” Furthermore, they asserted that it restricts the freedom of other countries to decide on their trade, cooperation, and exchange relationships with this nation.
The letter stressed that respect for and sovereignty of countries – which originally and always resides in the people – must continue to be the cornerstone of coexistence between nations and of aspirations to achieve a more just and peaceful world.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel was quick to express his gratitude to López Obrador, whom he called brother. In a message on his social media accounts, he stated that he would never tire of “thanking Mexico for its generous solidarity and support of the heroic resistance of the Cuban people” and reaffirmed his “decisive support for strengthening this deep friendship” between Cuba and Mexico.
Meanwhile, the Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Eugenio Martínez , thanked López Obrador for the gesture and took the opportunity to express the “admiration” of the Cuban people, who “feel accompanied by the Mexican brothers and sisters who have confirmed that they are dignified and just in the face of the crime that the US commits against the Island.”
Translated by GH
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