Thursday, April 16, 2009

Cuba: Regional leaders demand end to US blockade

Cuban News Agency reports Cuba could become one of the main topics of the 5th Summit of the Americas that will take place in Trinidad and Tobago next weekend.

In this regard, Nicaraguan Deputy Foreign Minister Manuel Coronel told reporters in Managua that President Daniel Ortega will introduce the topic of Cuba and will demand the end of the US blockade of the Caribbean archipelago during the meeting.

According to Granma news daily, other leaders of the region have also expressed their intention to emulate Ortega's proposal.

"We can not accept that the United States continues violating Cuba's rights. This is a matter of honor," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently.

Meanwhile, his Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales, announced that he would present a resolution in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, demanding the end of Washington's almost fifty-year-old economic, financial and trade blockade of Cuba.

Elsewhere, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorin regretted the absence of any references to the situation of Cuba in the draft of the final declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas and stressed that the exclusion of Cuba from the inter-American system "is an anomaly that should be corrected."

In this sense, Colombia has said that it hopes bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States enter a "phase of opening and dialogue" after the summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
Published by Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting
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