Vienna Summit Ends Amid Calls for Integration
Taken from Granma
VIENNA, May 12, 2006 .— The 4th EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit adjourned Friday without arriving at a path for a strategic association because the real alliance of the European Union is with the United States, denounced Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage.
While the European Union is starting negotiations with the Central American nations and the Andean Community of Nations for a free trade agreement, the summit provided little hope for a real integration, promoted by the Latin American leaders that brought the language and hopes of their peoples to the Summit.
Fueled by the mass media and interests at stake, the nationalization of Bolivia's hydrocarbons was the center of attention, including the firmness shown by President Evo Morales in defense of the sovereignty of his nation and the right to recover its natural resources.
Evo and his Venezuelan colleague Hugo Chavez received a lot of attention during the forum because of their frankness, far from the classical language used at this type of meeting.
When asked at the end of the Summit what he expected from Europe, Chavez said that the European Union must "every day have a better understanding of what is happening in Latin America, that we are changing, that there is a sort of renaissance as the peoples that have been trampled are now rising up."
Chavez defended the decision of Evo Morales to nationalize his country’s hydrocarbons, and commented that the Bolivian leader has fulfilled what he promised to his people when he was a presidential candidate, which he said should be applauded.
Another Latin American leader that voiced strong words in Vienna was Argentinean President Nestor Kirchner, who blamed the industrialized world for the pollution in developing nations.
In no way should we accept that the nations that have achieved a higher level of development send us the toxic wastes of their industrial processes, Kirchner emphasized.
The 4th EU- Latin America/Caribbean Summit launched the Vienna Declaration, that among other topics rejects the unilateral measures of a coercive nature, in a clear reference to the Helms-Burton Act and the US blockade of Cuba.
The text of the declaration makes clear that there is no single model of democracy and reaffirms the need to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and free determination of all nations.
The final summit declaration also condemns terrorist actions, their financing and support. It appeals to governments to block safe shelter to those that are guilty of terrorist actions and to investigate and take to trial those accused of such crimes, or give fast track consideration of extradition requests, reported Prensa Latina news agency.