Why does Mexico care so much about Cuba?

A fundraiser by a former Mexican president raises the question.

The Big News Breakdown. Unpacking this week’s most important news.

Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) is the most powerful Mexican politician in living memory. He also has kept relatively quiet since he left office, promising to reemerge only when it mattered. This has only happened thrice: To support Mexico’s unprecedented judicial election, to shill for his recently published book, and to raise funds for Cuba.

“I’ve retired, but it hurts me to see how they’re seeking to exterminate our Cuban brothers for their ideals of freedom and the defense of their sovereignty,” tweeted out López Obrador before sharing a set of bank details.

This was so surprising that many thought López Obrador’s Twitter account may have been hacked. The format of the plea certainly seemed like a scam: An exhortation to donate money on behalf of the Cuban people to a private Mexican bank account.

The account was later found to be legitimate—allegedly linked to an organisation run by a close political ally. But the question as to why this powerful former president had emerged from his political slumber, after far more dramatic moments on the domestic front, remained.