Cuba to region: Stay united against US - Gayo Lues

“In the face of attempts to divide us and derail us that will come again, [Latin America] needs to stay united,” read a strongly-worded statement published in the government-owned newspaper, Granma on Wednesday.

The statement condemned US President Barak Obama’s call for democratic reforms by Havana during the recent Summit of the Americas in Colombia’s Caribbean resort city of Cartagena, saying Obama is in no position to talk about democracy.

“President Obama should realize that the Cartagena summit was not propitious for advising democracy in Cuba,” it added.”We Cubans will take care of Cuba.”

The two-day-long summit of the Organization of American States (OAS), had gathered leaders and representatives of member countries of the Western Hemisphere except Cuba as the US insists that Havana implement democratic reforms before returning to the hemispheric set.

The Cuban daily also said that Americans “should take care of their own wars, crises, and dirty politics; what pertains to Cuba will be dealt with by us Cubans.”

The statement referred to the OAS as an “unburied corpse” and endorsed Argentina’s “inalienable right of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands….”

Britain established colonial rule over the islands, which are located off Argentina’s coast, in 1833 and have since called them part of British Overseas Territories.

The two countries fought a 74-day-long war over Malvinas in 1982. Tensions between the two sides have escalated since 2010 when Britain authorized the exploration of oil in the islands’ waters.

The US and Canada also refused to support Argentina’s claim to the territory. Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez left the summit before its official closing ceremony.

The summit was concluded without a joint declaration due to a lack of consensus over issues such as the participation of Cuba and Malvinas.

YH/HN