SALAMANCA (Spain), Oct 15: Leaders from Spain, Portugal and Latin America debated immigration and debt on Saturday but talks were overshadowed by an unusual intervention by the United States, concerned over summit support for Cuba.
The two-day summit neared its end after leaders and ministers from 22 Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries discussed terrorism, aid to Central America and how to give their Ibero-American grouping a higher international profile.
The leaders found it hard to shake off controversy over Cuba which has dominated the summit despite the unexplained absence of Cuba’s veteran communist leader, Fidel Castro.
The US embassy in Madrid publicly announced its concern over a Cuban-backed resolution on terrorism being debated at the summit and a second resolution calling for an end to the US trade embargo on Cuba.
“It would be unfortunate if these texts were interpreted as a sign of support for the Castro dictatorship,” an embassy spokesman said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, attending the summit, also expressed concern about the resolution on the embargo.
“I hope it is not interpreted as a sign of tolerance of violation of human rights in Cuba,” he told a news conference.
The draft terrorism resolution put before the meeting backed the extradition from the United States of Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative who Venezuela wants to try over the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.
A US judge has ruled that Posada, who has denied involvement in the bombing, may not be deported to Cuba or Venezuela, saying he faced the threat of torture.
A Spanish government spokesman said the specific reference to Posada had been removed and substituted with a general statement on extradition.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez praised the resolutions on Cuba. “I think it’s a very important step that this Salamanca summit calls things by their name - calls bread bread and wine wine.”—Reuters
