Friends of Cuba call for an alternative People's Summit

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 13 (ACN) A People's Summit in Santo Domingo to protest the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the 10th Summit of the Americas on December 4 and 5 in Punta Cana was convened on Sunday by the continental solidarity meeting held in Mexico.

The 500 delegates from some 30 countries gave broad support to the initiative presented by Roberto Payano Pantaleon, representing the Dominican Campaign and the Puerto Rican Committee of Solidarity with Cuba.

"The exclusion of the three sister nations constitutes a capitulation by the government of the host country to the brutal pressures of the United States, which is attempting to reimpose the Monroe Doctrine, threatening peace, security, and stability in the region," the call emphasizes.

"In the face of a Summit of the Americas built on coercion and exclusion, and in the face of the imperialist offensive, let us promote solidarity, unity, and peace in our region!" it adds.

In his closing speech at the 9th Latin American and Caribbean Continental Meeting in Support of Cuba, the island's ambassador to Mexico, Marcos Rodriguez Costa, affirmed that the alternative Summit is enthusiastically received.

It will be a legitimate space for meeting, dialogue, and coordination between movements in solidarity with Cuba and just causes, as an expression of a region that does not accept impositions or exclusions, Rodriguez Costa asserted.

On September 30, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement stating that the unity and defense of Our America requires a hemispheric Summit without exclusions.

If this decision persists, subordination and submission to the voracious and expansionist neighbor will prevail, threatening regional peace, security, and stability in open defiance of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, he added.