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Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner speaks with Cuba's President Raul Castro (L) during the opening session of a summit of leaders from Latin American and Caribbean nations, in the Costa do Sauipe resort, December 16, 2008.REUTERS/Jamil Bittar
COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil-Latin American leaders on Tuesday blamed the global economic crisis on rich countries and welcomed Communist-run Cuba at a summit meeting designed to weaken U.S. influence in the region.The presence of Cuban President Raul Castro at the meeting in northeastern Brazil was touted as a sign of Latin America's growing independence from the United States, a far cry from the Cold War era when Cuba was expelled from the Washington-based Organisation of American States."Cuba returns to where it always belonged. We're complete, we're forming a team, a good team," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the region's most vehement U.S. critic and Cuba's closest ally."The most positive thing for the independence of our continent is that we meet alone without the hegemony of the empire," Chavez said in reference to the United States.Previous summits of Latin American and Caribbean leaders have always included former colonial powers Spain and Portugal or the United States.Castro, on his first foreign trip since taking over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro earlier this year, said an unfair, world economic order benefiting rich countries and multinational companies was in crisis."It's the demise of an economic model," he said.Cuba's admission on Tuesday into the long-standing Rio Group of more than 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries brought renewed calls for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba....
By Raymond Colitt
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PS:Latin America keeps on shifting LEFT big time....What a pity....I guess they want their countries to turn like "stopped-in time"Cuba or North Korea....As in the days of Noah...
