SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (BDCi) – “The upcoming April Summit of the Americas in Columbia must be the very last that Cuba does not participate in,” declared Hector Timerman, the Argentine Foreign Minister, following a meeting in Sao Paulo with Antonio Patriota, the Brazilian Foreign Minister.
“Cuba needs to be a part of the Summit of the Americas simply because it is supposed to be a Summit of the Americas,” added Timerman.
Patriota went on to say that the exclusion of Cuba has just gone on longer than a reasonable length of time. “It must be recalled that president Luiz Inacio da Silva said the same thing at the last summit he attended: ‘This should be the last summit that Cuba does not attend’. However Cuba will not be in Columbia, continues to be excluded from Summits of the Americas and we are not happy about it.”
Besides the summit and Cuba, Patriota and Timerman also discussed the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands. Argentina recently accused England of sending nuclear weapons to the islands and using them as a military base to control the South Pacific.
The two ministers also discussed a visit by Argentine technicians to the rocket launch base of Alcantara, in the state of Maranhao on March 15 as part of a bilateral effort to reactivate exchange programs between the two nation-neighbors.
By: Natania Levine Courtesy: agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br Photo: en.mercopress.com 15 March 2012
9:16 a.m P.D.T