Mexico, one of the powers of the western hemisphere and an influential country in international affairs generally, has been an important and decidedly essential partner in Central America and the Caribbean.

The Spanish-speaking country has been an ally of the Caribbean and at times stood with the region against the United States — for example, on the US embargo against Cuba.

One of its most enduring relations in the Caribbean has been with Jamaica, and this year marks 50 years of formal diplomatic ties from which the island has seen tangible benefits, particularly in trade and culture. Mexico established diplomatic relations with Jamaica in March 1966 and for most of that time Jamaica has maintained an embassy in the Central American country.

The relationship started when Mexico established a consulate in Jamaica in 1857 while Jamaica was still a British colony. The Jamaica-Mexico connection may be even older if Ivan Van Sertima is to be believed. In his book

They Came b efore Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America, he argues that Africans were the first people to cross the Atlantic to the Americas.

In recent times, the diplomacy has involved visits by three Jamaican prime ministers, as recently as 2014, and four Mexican presidents. On a day-to-day basis, the two countries have collaborated in a range of multilateral and hemispheric organisations, helped by the fact that the representatives of Mexico and Jamaica are often seated beside each other in the chronological order of international seating.

Mexico rendered invaluable support to the Caribbean and Central America when, together with Venezuela, they established the San Jose Accord in 1980 to help cushion the impact of oil prices.

In 2015, total trade between Jamaica and Mexico amounted to US$130 million. This is small, but the real measure of the economic relationship is foreign direct investment in the tourism industry, where Mexican companies invested over US$200 million in Jamaica. It is a Mexican company that manages the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.

The only unhappy note is in football when Jamaica has to play Mexico in the Azteca stadium in the rarified atmosphere of Mexico City, but we take solace in our unchallenged dominance in track and field and cricket.

Hopefully all of this will be ramped up as the mature friendship continues to grow. One urgent need is the re-establishment of direct flights between Mexico and Jamaica. The friendship was consolidated on a people-to-people basis during the halcyon days when Mexico operated regular flights between Kingston and Mexico City. The airlift is what will make it truly “mi casa es su casa”.