US Urged to Lift Cuba Blockade
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, April 17, 2009. The subject of Cuba came up for discussion from the summit’s very opening, when Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez, the first speaker at the gathering, asked the United States to lift the blockade against the Caribbean nation and received applause from those present, according to the Mexican daily La Jornada.
CRISTINA FERNANDEZ WAS THE FIRST SPEAKER AS ARGENTINA WAS THE LAST SUMMIT’S HOST
"The blockade against the sister nation of Cuba is an anachronism and we ask that it be lifted," demanded the Argentinean leader, who noted that Cuba had "expressed its total readiness to talk with United States on all issues, therefore we believe we are faced with a second opportunity to build a new relationship and we should not let it go by."
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, for his part, denounced the exclusion of Cuba from the hemispheric summit. Speaking on behalf of the Central American nations, Ortega criticized the policy of isolation sought by successive US administrations against Cuba for more than half a century. |
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NICARAGUAN PRESIDENT DANIEL ORTEGA SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF CENTRAL AMERICA
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"I refuse to call this meeting the Summit of the Americas where there are two great absences," he said, adding he felt uncomfortable with such an arrangement, in which Cuba and Puerto Rico are excluded.
Ortega pointed to the historic generosity and unconditional support which the Cuban people and government have offered Latin American nations, especially the supportive position of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. |
"Cuba’s sole crime has been that of struggling for independence and sovereignty, and Cuba is now sanctioned for that, and excluded for that," said Ortega, who recalled that Latin America and the Caribbean had unanimously condemned the US blockade against the island during the Brazil meeting in December.
The Nicaraguan president also referred to the position adopted by the 7th Extraordinary Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), held in Cumana, which recorded that block’s disagreement with the final document of the Trinidad and Tobago gathering.
The text put forth by the ALBA member countries says the declaration of the Summit of the Americas does not provide solutions or mechanisms for facing the crisis generated by the neo-liberal [free market] system. It also questions Cuba’s exclusion from this summit.
US President Barack Obama told the meeting that his government was seeking "to move US-Cuban relations in a new direction." But the US leader sought to elude the issue of the US blockade against Cuba, imposed by Washington in 1962 and which continues to be the obstacle for links between the two nations.
Obama also asked that the US not be blamed for all the western hemisphere’s problems, while a global economic crisis caused by the north is equally besieging the nations of the area, reported Prensa Latina news agency.
The 5th Summit of the Americas will continue through Saturday and Sunday in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.(Cubaminrex- Granma)
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