Colombia’s Santos Urges U.S. to End Cuba’s Isolation

The US boycott of Cuba is a relic of the Cold War and it's high time it was ended.

Maybe when the United States starts acting like a responsible citizen.. the rest of the world will follow suit.

Posted on Saturday, 04.14.12
Cuba becomes major issue at hemispheric summit

Cuba’s exclusion, attempts to legalize drugs and Argentina’s claim over the Falklands Islands were major issues Saturday, first day of the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia.

By Sibylla Brodzinsky
Special to The Miami Herald

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- Cuba was not invited to the hemispheric summit that opened Saturday in this Caribbean colonial city but the communist country loomed large over the meeting of 30 leaders from the Americas, some of whom failed in an eleventh-hour push to invite Cuba.

Calling the U.S. embargo on Cuba anachronistic, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said this should be the last of the regional summits without Cuba. As expected, he also called for the region to begin an objective analysis of the drug policy and look for alternatives.

Both were uncomfortable issues for President Barack Obama, who also had to face the embarrassment of a prostitution scandal involving as many as a dozen secret service agents sent to the city to as part of his security detail. And Southern Command, based in Doral, on Saturday announced that five military personnel also are under investigation for “inappropriate conduct” in Cartagena.

On Cuba, Santos gave a strongly worded opening address at the two-day meeting in which he called for dialogue.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/14/2748598/cuba-becomes-major-issue-at-hemispheric.html#storylink=cpy

Cuba is sticking point in Latin America summit
Updated: April 14, 2012 - 9:11 PM

The latest: A summit of 33 Western Hemisphere leaders opened in Cartagena, Colombia on Saturday with the United States and Canada standing firm, but against everyone else's insistence that Cuba join future summits. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, a U.S. ally, called Cuba's exclusion an unjustified anachronism of the Cold War. "This is the last Summit of the Americas," Bolivia's foreign minister David Choquehuanca said, "unless Cuba is allowed to take part."

Economy: President Obama dismissed talk of tension, focusing instead on economic issues. He declared a new environment for cooperation exists in the Americas.

Drug talks: On the drug front, Obama flatly declared that legalizing drugs was not the solution to the violence that has confronted the region. He said he was open to holding the debate, but that strong economies, the rule of law and reduced demand for drugs would better contain the flow of drugs.

~snip~

What's next: The fate of the summit's final declaration is uncertain as Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay said they wouldn't sign it Sunday unless the opposition to Cuba is dropped.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/147452555.html

.

...but it should have happened thirty years ago, when mr Alzheimer asked Gorbachev to "take down that wall...." BS.

Good.

The Latin American countries step up pressure on the Castro regime to change their oppressive policies.

It's not a one-way street.