Latin American Leaders Gather in Cuba for Summit
Latin American Leaders Gather in Cuba for Summit
AS/COA’s Christopher Sabatini comments on this week’s third summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Havana, Cuba.
In a country famous for its political billboards, Cuba this week prepared to welcome Latin American heads of state to Havana for a regional summit with a new poster showing Cuban President Raúl Castro with a raised fist and the words: “The Revolution continues as always, absolutely no compromise with anyone, only the people.”
It is not a fitting message for the third meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), as each country brings very different ideologies and national interests, from socialist Venezuela to pro-business Mexico.
Nonetheless, the region’s 33 states do appear to have a new found sense of common purpose and a need to band together.
The summit, which starts on Tuesday, will send the region’s strongest signal yet to the Obama administration that it opposes US policy towards Cuba and that Washington’s regional interests have been undermined by that policy....
“For all the very legitimate criticism of the United States that the leaders gathered at the Celac meeting in Havana will level at the US’s policy toward Cuba and the embargo, will one of them raise the issue of human rights in a country where they are repressed systematically?” asked Christopher Sabatini, senior policy director at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas....
