October 16, 2005

Latin American summit backs Cuba despite U.S. concern

By Emma Ross-Thomas and Axel Bugge

SALAMANCA, Spain (Reuters) - Leaders from Spain, Portugal and Latin America, ignoring U.S. concern, backed a strong call on Saturday for an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba and for the suspected bomber of a Cuban airliner to be tried.

The 22-nation Ibero-American summit stood by a resolution urging an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba despite an unusual public expression of concern by the U.S. embassy in Madrid.

Ibero-american heads of state and governments stand for the official photo at the University of Salamanca during the XV Ibero-American Summit October 14, 2005. (REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo)

"We ask the government of the United States of America ... to put an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade that it maintains against Cuba," a final statement said.

Spain's opposition press pounced on the resolution as a diplomatic "own goal" for Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who irritated Washington soon after taking office last year by pulling Spanish troops from Iraq.

Zapatero said the Cuba statement was similar to past U.N. resolutions and described his government's relations with Washington as "suitable, correct, fluid".

The leaders also approved a Cuban-backed resolution on terrorism in which they supported steps "to achieve the extradition or bring to justice the person responsible for the terrorist attack on a Cubana de Aviacion plane in October 1976 which killed 73 civilians."

The resolution is a reference to Luis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative who Venezuela wants extradited from the United States and put on trial over the bombing.

A U.S. judge has ruled that Posada, who has denied involvement in the attack, may not be deported to Cuba or Venezuela, saying he faced the threat of torture.

Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, leading the Cuban delegation in the absence of veteran communist leader Fidel Castro, hailed the resolutions earlier this week as a victory for Cuban diplomacy.

The U.S. embassy in Madrid had earlier publicly announced its concern over the two resolutions favouring Cuba.

"It would be unfortunate if these texts were interpreted as a sign of support for the Castro dictatorship," an embassy spokesman said.

To smooth ruffled feathers, the U.S. embassy released a statement to Spanish news agencies on Saturday saying U.S.-Spanish relations continued to be solid.

EU CONCERNED

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, attending the summit, also voiced concern. "I hope it is not interpreted as a sign of tolerance of violation of human rights in Cuba," he told a news conference.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Castro ally and outspoken critic of the United States, praised the resolutions.

"I think it's a very important step that this Salamanca summit calls things by their name - calls bread bread and wine wine," he told reporters.

Ideological divisions over the resolutions were reflected in the streets of the historic city of Salamanca, where pro- and anti-Cuban marchers rallied.

Some 200 people, according to a police estimate, marched singing and chanting to demand an end to communist rule and protesting against Madrid's invitation to Castro.

"We think that Cuba's chair should stay empty until there are free elections in Cuba," said Cuban-born Georgina Chirino, a member of the Miami-based Federacion Sindical, who said her aunt died a political prisoner.

Later, hundreds of pro-Chavez and Castro protesters marched through Salamanca, waving pictures of the Cuban leader and iconic revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara.

The leaders agreed to set up a coordinating mechanism to speed the response to natural disasters such as Hurricane Stan that recently lashed Central America and to work together for orderly migration while respecting migrants' human rights.

The leaders threw their support behind schemes to forgive debt in return for investment in education and Zapatero said Spain was talking to six countries about such agreements.

(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft, Carlos Andrade Garcia)

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