Mexico and Cuba swap ambassadors

Mexico's ambassador to Cuba was besieged by reporters in Havana

Cuba and Mexico have exchanged ambassadors, ending a three-month diplomatic spat between the two Latin American allies.

Mexico withdrew its ambassador and expelled Cuba's envoy in May, after Cuban President Fidel Castro accused it of being little more than a US lackey.

Both representatives returned to their respective missions on Sunday saying they were glad to be back.

The disagreement had marked a low-point in relations between the two countries.

"I always believed in the close historical and traditional ties between our two peoples," Jorge Bolanos, Cuba's envoy to Mexico said when he arrived in the capital, Mexico City.

"I am supremely happy to return to Mexico, after a brief and involuntary absence," he added.

Back in Havana

Mexico's ambassador to Cuba, Roberta Lajous, said she was equally happy to be back in Havana.

Although the countries never formally broke off diplomatic ties, Cuba at one point described relations with its ally as the worst in a century.

Mexico recalled its ambassador after President Castro launched a scathing May Day attack on countries, including Mexico, which had backed a UN censure of Cuba's human rights record.

The return of the ambassadors came one week after Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and his Mexican counterpart, Luis Ernesto Derbez, met in Havana to smooth over the disagreement.

Mexico was the only Latin American country to maintain ties with Cuba after its 1959 Revolution and had long been the country's strongest ally in the region.