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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Cuba becomes major issue at hemispheric summit

Posted on Saturday, 04.14.12

Summit of the Americas

Cuba becomes major issue at hemispheric summit

Cuba's exclusion, attempts to legalize drugs and Argentina's claim over
the Falklands Islands were major issues Saturday, first day of the
Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia.
By Sibylla Brodzinsky
Special to The Miami Herald

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- Cuba was not invited to the hemispheric summit
that opened Saturday in this Caribbean colonial city but the communist
country loomed large over the meeting of 30 leaders from the Americas,
some of whom failed in an eleventh-hour push to invite Cuba.

Calling the U.S. embargo on Cuba anachronistic, Colombian President Juan
Manuel Santos said this should be the last of the regional summits
without Cuba. As expected, he also called for the region to begin an
objective analysis of the drug policy and look for alternatives.

Both were uncomfortable issues for President Barack Obama, who also had
to face the embarrassment of a prostitution scandal involving as many as
a dozen secret service agents sent to the city to as part of his
security detail. And Southern Command, based in Doral, on Saturday
announced that five military personnel also are under investigation for
"inappropriate conduct" in Cartagena.

On Cuba, Santos gave a strongly worded opening address at the two-day
meeting in which he called for dialogue.

"Isolation, embargo, indifference and looking the other way have shown
their inefficiency, " Santos said to resounding applause. "It is
anachronism that keeps us anchored in a Cold War era."

Future summits without Cuba, he said, would be "unacceptable."
Colombia's president is considered a moderate and among the United
States' closest allies in the region.

"We cannot be indifferent to a process of change within Cuba,'' Santos said.

The United States and Canada stood firm in their opposition to Cuba's
participation, saying that the summit mechanism was reserved for
democratic nations and that Cuba did not meet that standard. Other Latin
American nations say that Cuba should be brought into the democratic
fold by including it, rather than excluding it from such gatherings.

Pre-summit negotiations among foreign ministers concluded with the
United States and Canada blocking wording in the draft presidents
declaration that would call for Cuba's inclusion in future summits.
Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman announced that a proposal
had been made Friday to extend a last-minute invitation to Cuban leader
Raúl Castro but consensus on the proposal was not reached.

Obama, speaking at a business leaders meeting parallel to the summit,
did not mention the Cuba issue but said that the media was in a "time
warp" focusing on controversies that "date back to before I was born."

But the controversy is still alive.

President Rafael Correa, of Ecuador, had announced beforehand that he
would not participate, in an act of protest over Cuba's exclusion.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez also stayed away, saying the Cuban
doctors who were treating him for cancer had called him back to Havana
for more radiotherapy. And Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega , who had
been expected, simply didn't show.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who was in Cartagena on his first
trip to Colombia, said he respected the opinions of the Latin American
leaders on Cuba but did not agree.

"I don't know how we can participate in forums of democracy with a
dictatorship at the table,'' Rubio said. "I just don't understand what
role they could possibly play in a regional meeting of democracies."

At the summit, Santos also made a formal plea for the region to rethink
current drug policy, a topic that had been originally put on the table
by Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina who has called for
legalization of the drug trade as the answer to rampant drug related
violence.

"Colombia and many other countries in the region believe it is necessary
to begin a profound discussion about this issue without prejudices or
dogmas, which looks at the different scenarios and possible alternatives
to face this challenge effectively," Santos said.

"We have to recognize that despite all the efforts the illegal drug
business is still booming, drug addiction is a serious public health
problem and drug trafficking continues to be the main source of
financing for violence and terrorism," he added.

Colombia's main rebel groups and neo-paramilitary militias are funded by
drug trafficking.

Obama said it was "legitimate to have a conversation" about the issue,
but added that he did not believe in legalization. "My personal opinion
and that of my administration is that legalization is not the answer."

Argentina was seeking a declaration from summit leaders supporting its
claim over the Falkland Islands, which the Argentines call the Malvinas,
after losing a brief but bloody war with Britain 30 years ago.

Obama arrived Friday in Cartagena, hours after as many as 12 Secret
Service agents were sent home for allegedly engaging with prostitutes.

In a statement to media, Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donavan said,
"There have been allegations of misconduct made against Secret Service
personnel in Cartagena, Colombia prior to the president's trip. Because
of this, those personnel are being relieved of their assignments,
returned to their place of duty, and are being replaced by other Secret
Service personnel."

The U.S. Southern Command said on Saturday that the five Colombia-based
service members violated curfew at the same hotel where the Secret
Service agents were staying and "may have been involved in inappropriate
conduct."

General Douglas Fraser, Commander of Southcom, said that he was
"disappointed by the entire incident."

Also Saturday, Colombian Colombia's Commander for Citizen Security,
Rodolfo Palomino, told RCN radio that there were two small explosions in
Cartagena after Obama's arrival Friday. One explosion was near the bus
terminal and the other near a supermarket. There were no reports of
injury or damage in either incident.

Another minor explosion took place Friday night in a drainage ditch in
Bogota in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy, Polomino said. There were no
reported injuries or damage linked to that explosion either, he said.

Staff writer Jim Wyss contributed to this report from Bogota, Colombia.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/14/v-fullstory/2748598/cuba-becomes-major-issue-at-hemispheric.html

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