Havana, April 18 (RHC) -- Cuba’s Government published a declaration on Wednesday about the Summit of the Americas in its official daily newspaper “Granma” under the title “For a Second Independence”.

Cuba calls on all countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to maintain unity in face of the continued attempts to drive a wedge between “Our America”. Furthermore, Cuba warns that it is of utmost importance to defend peace and preserve the human species.

In the text, which analyses the 6th Summit of the Americas in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, the Cuban Government highlights the bravery shown by the leaders of this hemisphere in their position with respects to the veto of the United States and Canada. Latin America and the Caribbean was united on issues such as the United States’ blockade of Cuba, the inclusion of Cuba in the next Summit and Argentina’s right over the Malvinas Islands (named Falkland Islands by the British)  

The Cuban Government thanks all the leaders who supported Cuba some of which refuse to participate in future summits that exclude the island.        

In a related note:

Influential U.S. newspapers such as The Washington Post, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times criticized the White House’s opposition to Cuba’s participation in the Summit of the Americas, held over the weekend in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

In an article entitled ‘Obama Concludes Summit of the Americas on the Defensive about Inviting Cuba,’ The Washington Post recall that the summit ended without an official declaration “and left open the question of whether there would be a seventh such meeting.”

“The ambiguous conclusion underscored the fact that Obama, while pledging a new relationship with the United States’ leery southern neighbors, has had little success in bridging significant policy differences that have divided the region for decades,” the article notes.

The New York Times recognizes that “by refusing to sign a statement that would have called for the next summit meeting to include Cuba, Mr. Obama avoided antagonizing some Cuban-American voters in Florida, a crucial battleground state in this year’s presidential election.”

In an article entitled ‘Time to include Cuba,’ Los Angeles Times reports that “the policy of banning Cuba from the gathering of the hemisphere’s leaders for nearly 18 years is backfiring.”

The article adds “The Obama administration has denied that its goal in excluding Cuba is to keep Cuban American voters in Florida happy during a presidential election year. Whatever the reason, the position is not playing well with leaders in the region, who see embargoes and political isolation as anachronistic policies from the Cold War era”. It also suggests that “the United States should abandon its push to keep Cuba from attending the Americas Summit.”

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