Bolivia President Evo
Morales: With his tirade against Washington, he
expressed the views of many Americas Summit participants, April
15.
Evo Morales Blasts U.S. 'Dictatorship' Over Summit Obstruction
(El Espectador, Colombia)
“We can no longer stand for the U.S. dictatorship over South America and
the Caribbean … The United States and Cuba have
something in common: both send troops to other countries. Cuba sends medical care;
whereas the United States sends troops to end lives. That's the big difference.”
An Argentine veteran of the Malvinas War demonstrates for Argentine sovereignty over the islands, known in Britain as the Falklands, April 2, outside the British Embassy in Buenos Aires.
The lack of progress made on the Malvinas Islands issue (known
to the English as the Falkland Islands) and the exclusion of Cuba triggered this
reaction from the Bolivian president.
At a press conference after the first private meeting of presidents
at the Americas Summit in Cartagena, Bolivia President Evo
Morales blasted the U.S. government over its refusal to rule in favor of the
region on issues such as Cuba's exclusion from the summits and sovereignty over
the Malvinas Islands, which he said, are causing the "disintegration of South
America and the Caribbean."
"We can no longer stand for the U.S. dictatorship over
South America and the Caribbean," Morales said in a rather annoyed tone,
in light of the lack of progress on these issues. He also said that he would
have preferred it if the Saturday session had been held in public, but that he
respected the "sovereign decision of the host county Colombia," to keep
discussions among the presidents behind closed doors.
In addition, he asserted that if the U.S. doesn’t respond to
the call of the people on the blockade and isolation of Cuba and the return of
sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands to Argentina, “There will be no integration
and there will be no more Americas Summits as there have been up to now.” He said
that, "from the Bolivian Government’s point of view, the Malvinas Islands
belong to Argentina, and therefore, they also belong to the Americas.”
Posted by Worldmeets.US
Morales asked, “What are we going to discuss tomorrow (Sunday)
if the United States doesn’t want to touch on issues like Cuba and the Malvinas?
Why have an executive retreat that is not really a
retreat? If the media isn’t going to be present, of what use will it be?
The president said that so far, attending countries cannotagree on a final summit declaration,
due specifically to the issues he raised, which were a priority for many of the
attendees but which are not being accorded their proper significance.
Evo Morales was sympathetic to the
decision of Ecuador President Rafael Correa, who decided not to attend the
summit in protest of the absence of Cuba, which elicited this harsh comment
from Morales: "The United States and Cuba have something in common: both
send troops to other countries. Cuba sends medical care; whereas the United
States sends troops to end lives. That's the big difference."
