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Cuba's Castro calls for integration free of US
Cuban President Raul Castro called on Latin American and Caribbean leaders Tuesday to work together on pressing regional problems at a gathering of all Western Hemisphere nations except the U
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uban President Raul Castro called on Latin American and Caribbean leaders Tuesday to work together on pressing regional problems at a gathering of all Western Hemisphere nations except the U.S. and Canada.
In his keynote speech as host for the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC for its initials in Spanish, Castro argued that the bloc should aspire to unity despite diversity, describing it as "the legitimate representative of the interests of Latin America and the Caribbean."
"We should establish a new regional and international cooperation paradigm," Castro said. "In the context of CELAC, we have the possibility to create a model of our own making, adapted to our realities, based on the principles of mutual benefit."
The summit's main theme is fighting poverty, inequality and hunger. According to the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, 28 percent of the region's inhabitants live in poverty and 11 percent in extreme poverty.
Tuesday's session of heads of CELAC states began with one minute of silence to remember the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who succumbed to cancer last March.
Chavez, an outspoken U.S. foe, was a driving force behind CELAC's creation in 2011. It was conceived as an alternative to the Washington-based Organization of American States, which suspended Cuba's membership in 1962 shortly after Fidel Castro's revolution.
Proponents argued the OAS has historically served Washington's interests rather than those of the region, and even Latin American allies of the United States have participated enthusiastically in CELAC.
