Ibero-American leaders call for end to US 'blockade' against Cuba
11-03-2006, 19h43
MONTEVIDEO (AFP)
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero (R) speaks during a press conference
with his Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos,
before the beginning of the XVI Iberoamerican
Summit in Montevideo. Ibero-American leaders
meeting called for an end to the US economic
"blockade" against Cuba, but some former
presidents also complained that Havana had
not moved toward democratic rule. (AFP)
Ibero-American leaders meeting called for an end to the US economic "blockade" against Cuba, but some former presidents also complained that Havana had not moved toward democratic rule.
In a statement issued at the 16th Ibero-American summit here, foreign ministers called for "the blockade against Cuba to end," referring to the economic embargo Washington has had clamped on Cuba since 1961.
But former leaders Patricio Aylwin of Chile, Armando Calderon of El Salvador, Luis Alberto Lacalle of Uruguay and Luis Alberto Monge of Costa Rica lamented Cuba's failure to establish a "participatory and effective democracy," approved during the group's 1996 summit of the 22-country group.
A Cuban diplomat here brushed aside the criticism, saying: "They don't know Cuba. They don't know what's happening in my country and that the 11 million Cubans support the revolution and don't want change."
Cuba is the Americas' only one-party communist regime.
Cuban President Fidel Castro, now 80 and in power since 1959, temporarily handed over the presidency to his brother Raul Castro, 75, on July 31 as Fidel recuperated from gastrointestinal surgery.
Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said October 19 he was disappointed that Fidel Castro missed his chance to implement a "democratic opening."
"I am a lover of the Cuban Revolution," Lula, his country's first democratically elected leftist, who has had fairly warm relations with Cuba, told the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo in an uncharacteristic criticism.
"I only regret that Fidel Castro did not carry out a process of political opening," added Lula. He won 60.83 percent of the vote in Sunday's second-round presidential elections, over ex-Sao Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin, who garnered 39.17 percent of the vote.
AFP
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ABC News: Annan Speaks at Iberoamerican Summit
By BILL CORMIER
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay Nov 3, 2006 (AP) U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday praised leaders at the 16th annual Iberoamerican summit for resolving to make progress on growing illegal immigration in an increasingly mobile world community.
At an opening ceremony of the 22-nation summit, Annan told the leaders that there are an estimated 26 million Latin American immigrants, constituting 13 percent of people worldwide crossing borders to flee poverty for opportunities elsewhere.
He said the United States is the leading destination for most migrants but that Spain is increasingly sought out by those fleeing hardships in Latin America, North Africa and other regions.
"International migration is one of the great issues of this century. In an increasingly globalized world there is a growing desire by peoples who wish to move to new countries," Annan said in a keynote speech punctuated by applause. "It is a new era."
Annan said the U.N. supported regional groups such as the Iberoamerican nations of Spain, Portugal, Andorra and 19 Latin American countries in ordering the growing flow of migrants illegal and otherwise and defending their rights.
Foreign ministers at their preparatory meeting expressed "profound concern" over Washington's moves to build new fencing along the desert border with Mexico, saying such barriers encourage "discrimination and xenophobia" and don't deter the migration of undocumented workers.
Enrique Iglesias, head of the summit's general secretariat, said a proposed final declaration for the summit would call for heightened efforts to protect the human rights of millions of migrants in Latin America and Europe.
The draft obtained by The Associated Press advocates a united strategy to reduce migration flows while protecting the human rights of migrants and to fight attempts to exploit poor workers who cross borders seeking jobs. The working paper contained no reference to the U.S. border fence controversy that the foreign ministers addressed in their side declaration.
On Friday, foreign ministers issued declarations backing plans to widen the Panama Canal to accommodate behemoth supertankers. An Oct. 22 referendum in Panama endorsed the most ambitious overhaul of the locks since their 1914 completion.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Immigration the hot topic at Ibero-American summit
Immigration the hot topic at Ibero-American summit
11-03-2006, 19h43
MONTEVIDEO (AFP)
El Salvador's President Antonio Saca (L to R),
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero, Spain's King Juan Carlos de Borbon
and Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez,
share a laugh before the opening of the XVI
Iberoamerican Summit in Montevideo.
Leaders from Spain, Portugal and their former
colonies in the Americas condemned the
controversial US border fence with Mexico and
the US economic "blockade" against Cuba at a
summit here. (AFP)
Leaders from Spain, Portugal and their former colonies in the Americas condemned the controversial US border fence with Mexico and the US economic "blockade" against Cuba at a summit here.
The 16th annual Ibero-American Summit that opened in the Uruguayan capital is focusing on immigration, and a special statement on the US border fence, presented by Mexico, was adopted by diplomats from the group's 22 countries.
US President George W. Bush on October 26 authorized construction of a 1,100-kilometer-long (700-mile-long) fence along one-third of the US border with Mexico to make the frontier more secure and clamp down on illegal immigration.
Mexico has said the fence was an insult and would not solve migration problems, and Mexico's president-elect Felipe Calderon has compared it to the Berlin Wall.
The United States, with some 20 million Hispanics among its population, and Spain, with 3.7 million, are the main destinations of Latin America's migrants.
Separately, foreign ministers in Montevideo called for "the blockade against Cuba to end," referring to the economic embargo Washington has had clamped on Cuba since 1961.
But former presidents of Chile, El Salvador, Uruguay and Costa Rica lamented Cuba's failure to establish a "participatory and effective democracy," approved during the group's 1996 summit.
Cuba is the Americas' only one-party communist regime.
In his address at the opening ceremony of the summit, special guest UN Secretary General Kofi Annan noted that the region had one of the highest levels of income disparity in the world.
Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez also spoke, along with King Juan Carlos of Spain and the head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat, Enrique Iglesias.
On the regional front, Venezuela will try to mend fences with his neighbors after its failed bid to replace Argentina as Latin America's representative on the UN Security Council. After a bruising battle with Guatemala, both nations agreed on Panama as a compromise candidate.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Washington nemesis, has also stirred regional unease with his announced military alliance with Bolivian President Evo Morales and an ongoing dispute with Mexico over a regional free-trade project that led both countries to recall their ambassadors in November 2005.
Uruguay and Argentina are also at loggerheads over the construction along a major river boundary in Uruguay of a paper mill that Argentina deems highly polluting.
Chile and Bolivia, by contrast, hope to make some headway in restoring diplomatic relations 28 years after negotiations broke down on Bolivia's demand for an outlet to the Pacific Ocean it lost in 1879 in a war with its neighbor.
Some big-names however will be absent: Cuban President Fidel Castro, now 80 and always the center of attention at such events, is still recovering from surgery and will not make it.
Neither will Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who cited exhaustion from his recent re-election bid, nor Venezuela's Chavez, who is busy campaigning for re-election.
And the presidents of Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama and the Dominican Republic will be absent for various reasons. Also missing will be Queen Sofia of Spain, who came down with the flu.
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