Close to a 100 delegates have, since April 8, given Cuba a voice and a face in Peru, where the 8th Summit of the Americas, and the Peoples’ Summit are taking place, in addition to forums of youth, legislators, businesspeople, and civil society, prior to the high level hemispheric meeting.
Cuba is present as in the meeting of peoples from the continent, an activity organized independently from the Summit of the Americas, that has taken place since 1998, when its first edition was held in Santiago de Chile.
Organized by trade unions and social organizations in Peru, the event demonstrates continental solidarity in the face of internal and external threats to which progressive efforts are subjected in our region.
Members of the island’s delegation are drawn from a wide spectrum of institutions, grassroots organizations, and Cuban associations, and are the legitimate representatives of their people in Peru.
During the 7th Summit in Panama, an attempt was made to present mercenaries and groups with terrorist links as members of Cuban civil society, which was denounced and repudiated at the time.
And Cuba’s representatives have denounced the same maneuver attempted this time in Lima.
“Cuban civil society will not share any space with mercenary elements or organizations that are financed from abroad, responding to the interests of a foreign power, with a clear agenda of subversion and violence,” stated Yamila González Ferrer, vice president of Cuba’s National Union of Jurists, and a representative to Coalition 15 of the so-called Hemispheric Dialogue, an event held prior to the 8th Summit of the Americas.
The same position was expressed during national forums held in Cuba in preparation for the events in Lima.
“We agree to unequivocally reject the presence in Lima, within the framework of the 8th Summit of the Americas Civil Society Forum’s preparatory process, of citizens of Cuban origin, and mercenary organizations, at the service of foreign governments and institutions, that have no recognition or legitimacy whatsoever, which seek to overturn the internal order, the social wellbeing, and the political system we have chosen in a sovereign, democratic manner,” states the final declaration approved by the 2nd Cuban Civil Society Forum “Thinking America.”
“May this platform serve as well to openly denounce the presence of mercenaries, paid by a foreign power, in parallel forums to be held during the 8th Summit and we add our voice to the energetic response of our representative to the Hemispheric Dialogue: “Don’t mess with Cuba.”
Participants in both events also agreed to express Cuba’s support to the people and government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and to denounce the expanding use of legal charges of corruption against left wing leaders, for political purposes, ignoring the will of the people.
(Granma)