Saturday, April 11, 2015

Americas Summit wraps up with other issues in US-Cuba shadow


Americas Summit wraps up with other issues in US-Cuba shadow




The moderate voices included the presidents of Latin America’s two most populous and economically powerful nations: Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, who only briefly criticized the U.S. sanctions on Venezuelans as “counterproductive and inefficient,” and Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto, who delivered an attack-free address.


Pena Nieto spent his allotted time expressing solidarity with Chile, whose president skipped the summit to oversee the country’s response to deadly flooding in recent days; backing Colombia’s peace talks with the hemisphere’s largest surviving guerrilla army, a common theme on the day; and praising U.S.-Cuban detente and Castro’s unprecedented attendance.


“All 35 states that make up the Americas are here. … This historic gathering is thanks to the dialogue between two great friends of Mexico, Cuba and the United States,” Pena Nieto said. “Our nation supports, recognizes and is an ally of this process.”


Obama announced that Rousseff will visit Washington in June, rescheduling a 2013 trip that she called off amid a diplomatic flap over revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency had covertly monitored her private communications.


She said she was pleased by the invitation and looked forward to the trip.


A potentially tense moment was avoided when President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela didn’t follow through on a pre-summit pledge to confront Obama with 10 million signatures on a petition demanding the repeal of the sanctions. Instead, he said the petitions would be delivered through diplomatic channels.


Maduro’s change of heart came after senior U.S. State Department official Tom Shannon flew to Caracas to meet with Maduro, and Obama and other officials walked back language declaring Venezuela’s political and economic instability a threat to U.S. national security.


Obama and Maduro met briefly in private later in the day.


“President Obama indicated our strong support for a peaceful dialogue between the parties within Venezuela,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House’s National Security Council. “He reiterated that our interest is not in threatening Venezuela, but in supporting democracy, stability and prosperity in Venezuela and the region.”


Story Continues →







via NorthEast Calling http://ift.tt/1yhnODI

No comments:

Post a Comment