- By Redaction AHORA
- Monday, 06 February 2012 08:29
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The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA for its Spanish acronyms) planned a special meeting in Cuba to make decisions about the fact that the Caribbean country that has not been invited to attend the next Summit of the Americas to be held in Colombia.
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez proposed to consult with Colombia, which hosted the Summit of the Americas, if Cuba is or is not invited to proceed accordingly.
"If Cuba is not invited to the Summit of the Americas we consider not attending the summit," Chavez told presidents of the member nations of ALBA, during the eleventh summit of the bloc integration, carried out in Caracas.
Rafael Correa, president of the Republic of Ecuador, led the roundtable discussion to assess the participation of the states of the mechanism at the Sixth Summit of the Americas to be held in April in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, if the Republic of Cuba does not participate.
"It is illogical to speak of Summit of the Americas without Cuba's participation," said the head of state shortly before proposing that the ALBA-TCP does not go to Colombia, as a sign of rejection of an unjust and exclusionary measure. The initiative believes it should be taken to discussion forums of Celac and UNASUR.
His proposal generated an interesting debate, especially since just before Bolivian president Evo Morales had requested a meeting of members of the regional bloc countries prior to the meeting in Cartagena de Indias, a conclave justified by Morales to focus on the idea of going with a common position, as he said it is in those scenarios where the sacred interests of Latin America and the Caribbean should be defended.
Meanwhile, Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua's president, noted that the call made by President Correa was right on time, recalling that in the V Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad and Tobago, they did not arrive in the island with a clear idea on the agenda.
In this regard, he asked that if participation is achieved the teams representing the OAS member nations of the ALBA-TCP, should be able to influence on the agenda for discussion, and he said, recalling that in the last issue of the summit, "the documents, we did not discuss and we learned about them once in site, were prepared by the bureaucracy of the OAS."
Ortega also said "let us insist on including the issue of Argentina there (Malvinas or Falklands case), the lifting of the blockade against Cuba and the existence of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty)," he said.
Raul Castro, Cuba's president, spoke to thank the interest and solidarity on an issue that is of particular importance for the island.
The mechanism of Summit of the Americas includes the participation of 34 countries of the Organization of American States (OAS), except Cuba.
The largest of the Antilles was invited to rejoin the OAS in 2009, in Honduras, after lifting the suspension that weighed against it since 1962, but Havana refused to join that organization. / Cubadebate
