By Andrew Hurst
08:31 p.m Dec 09, 1998 Eastern
MEXICO CITY, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A 40-year-old diplomatic love affair between Mexico and Cuba may be ending in tears and the Mexicans say it is all Fidel Castro's fault.
The Cuban Communist leader let drop a bombshell last week when he poked fun at what he called Mexico's efforts to turn its back on the rest of Latin America and join the ranks of the world's top industrial nations.
Castro's outburst, which prompted an immediate protest from Mexico's Foreign Minister Rosario Green, broke an unwritten rule that has held sway over relations between the two countries since the Cuban leader took power in 1959.
Until now the two nations never criticised each other publicly and relations between Castro and Mexican leaders have often been warm. One thing bringing together the two nations is an often fraught relationship with neighbouring United States.
Green has recalled Mexico's ambassador from Havana and has said she does not intend to send him back until she gets a full explanation from the Cuban government of Castro's remarks.
Castro did not mince his words.
``I don't know if the Mexicans wanted to put a distance between themselves and us...and left us in the poor neighbourhood -- they left us in the house of misery and moved to an aristocratic quarter,'' he said in a speech to a gathering in Havana of the Latin American Economic System (SELA), a regional forum for economic policy debate.
To add insult to injury Castro said many Mexican children could not identify their nation's founders but they all knew who the Walt Disney cartoon-creation Mickey Mouse was.
Mexico was the only country in Latin America not to break diplomatic relations with Cuba when the Caribbean nation was expelled from the Organisation of American States in 1962.
In return the revolutionary Cuban leader studiously avoided giving any support to left-wing guerrilla insurgencies in Mexico in the 1970s while the army quietly put them down.
The accommodation was strictly adhered to both by conservative-minded Mexican presidents such as Gustavo Diaz Ordaz in the 1960s and unashamed populist leaders such as Jose Lopez Portillo who ruled Mexico between 1976 and 1982.
As the initial shock over Castro's remarks starts to wear off some Mexicans are wondering whether the Cuban leader really fired the first shot or was merely reacting to some Mexican policy move that is not in the public domain.
``He (Castro) could be retaliating against something Mexico did that we don't know about,'' said Jorge Castaneda, a Mexican political scientist.
What seems to be in little doubt is that Castro broke new ground by making a calculated snub of Mexico's decision to join the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) four years ago.
``It's difficult to believe this was a faux pas, he is such a skilful statesman'' said Castaneda.
``I suppose Castro had his reasons for saying this and it's not old age and stupidity,'' said Lorenzo Meyer, a Mexican historian currently at Stanford University.
Nobody seems surprised that Castro, 72, should take a dim view of Mexico's decision to integrate with the North American economy -- something some Mexicans openly criticise. What people found astounding is that he went public with his views.
``Fidel, you are right, but don't say it in public please,'' said Agustin Gutierrez Canet, a former Mexican diplomat in a commentary in Mexico City daily Universal.
Ironically, Castro got on particularly well with disgraced former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who was in office from 1988-94 and took Mexico into the trade alliance with the U.S. and Canada.
Others said the row could soon blow over. ``Mexican policy has been to maintain good relations with Cuba. It won't change much because of a statement of this kind,'' said Joel Estudillo, analyst with the Instituto Mexicano de Estudios Politicos, an independent think tank in Mexico City.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited