HEAD of State Donald Ramotar on Saturday stressed Guyana’s support for Cuba’s presence at the 2015 Summit of the Americas meeting, scheduled to be hosted in Panama, in the wake of opposition from the USA on the matter.

Responding to questions at a news conference held at State House, the President made it clear that Cuba should be included at the Summit.
Last week, Guyana joined 30 Western Hemisphere leaders at the 44th Session of the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS), held in Asuncion, Paraguay, where the majority consensus reflected support for Cuba’s presence at the meeting.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, at the meeting, underscored Guyana’s position on Cuba’s inclusion at the meeting without any “preconditions” as are being proposed by the USA.

She said, “I am finding it a bit difficult to understand why we are discussing this issue of Cuba’s presence at the Summit. For Guyana this is a non-issue and was already settled in Cartagena at the last Summit. Cuba must be invited and there must be no conditionalities.”

CLEAR SUPPORT
The USA and Canada were alone in opposing Cuban participation at the meeting, but there was clear support from other nations present at the 44th Session of the OAS General Assembly.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales stated that the United States was acting “like a dictatorship” on the issue. The country was joined by Venezuela and Nicaragua in its unequivocal stance, which is that the countries would not attend the Summit meeting if Cuba is not allowed to attend. Also, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa boycotted this summit over the issue.
Nicaragua also denounced Cuba’s exclusion from the OAS saying that holding another Summit of the Americas without the Caribbean island’s presence was impossible.
Nicaraguan permanent representative at the OAS, Denis Moncada, highlighted that there was no mention of Cuba in the final resolutions issued by the OAS Permanent Commission, even though his country introduced the subject in a document submitted to the commission prior to the meeting.
“Cuba must be invited to attend the 2015 Summit of the Americas, with full sovereignty and without pre-conditions,” he said, adding that this proposition was included by Nicaragua in three resolutions discussed by the Permanent Commission.
Following Nicaragua’s decry, Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga, who presided over the plenary session, said all resolutions submitted to the Permanent Commission had been approved, including those by Nicaragua.
The first Summit of the Americas was hosted in Miami in 1994 by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Pull quote:
‘I am finding it a bit difficult to understand why we are discussing this issue of Cuba’s presence at the Summit (of the Americas 2015 meet). For Guyana this is a non-issue and was already settled in Cartagena at the last Summit. Cuba must be invited and there must be no conditionalities’ – Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett
Written By Vanessa Narine