Cuba, Venezuela tensions rise in run-up to hemispheric meeting

Cuba, Venezuela tensions rise in run-up to hemispheric meeting
BY JIM WYSS JWYSS@MIAMIHERALD.COM
04/08/2015 8:39 PM 04/09/2015 8:16 AM

PANAMA CITY
As leaders from 35 nations prepare to descend on this Central American
nation for the seventh Summit of the Americas, there were indications
that the reunion could be heated.

Cuba's official delegation to a civil society meeting stormed out of an
event Wednesday as they accused organizers of dragging their feet on
credentials even as they welcomed "mercenary" opposition members.

The protests come amid expectations about Cuba's participation at the
event for the first time since it was launched in 1994.

Speaking at a civil society forum, former President Bill Clinton, who
organized the first such summit in Miami 21 years ago, hailed Cuba's
inclusion this year, calling it "the beginning of reconciliation in the
Americas."

But outside, the environment was less than civil. Cuban and Venezuelan
protestors chanted "Go away Clinton" and chased at least one man — who
they called a Cuban dissident — out of the parking lot.

The theme of this year's summit is social inclusion but activists come
with their own agenda. A small Nicaraguan delegation protested that
nation's proposed inter-oceanic canal. A larger Venezuela contingent,
often shouting in unions with their Cuban counterparts, were protesting
the U.S. decision last month to levy sanctions on seven officials
through an executive order that called the Andean nation an
"extraordinary" threat to U.S. national security.

William Galvis was among a group shouting "We're not a threat, we
represent hope."

"We're here to protest the U.S. blockade against Cuba and the executive
order that calls Latin American nations a threat when we are nothing but
peaceful," said Galvis with a network of Venezuelan civil society
organizations.

With just days to go before the main event kicks off Friday, there are
indications that it could be heated.

A group of Cuban dissidents, including Leticia Herrería, of the Ladies
in White and Orlando Gutiérrez, with the Cuban Democracy and Resistance
Directorate, were reportedly assaulted Wednesday as they tried to lay
flowers at the bust of Cuban independence hero José Martí close to the
Cuban embassy. Some of them were also detained for questioning,
according to reports.

In Havana, Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel said it was "inadmissible"
for Cuban officials to share the stage with dissidents, who he called
"non-legitimate representatives."

As Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has vowed to rally support around
rejecting the sanctions, on Thursday, a group of two dozen former
presidents and leaders plan to present a letter denouncing human rights
violations in Venezuela.

Former Colombian President Andres Pastrana, one of the organizers of the
initiative, said he hopes to raise the alarm and push Latin American
leaders into taking a tougher stance on Venezuela.

"There is a complicit silence regarding this situation," he said.

As a backdrop to the fisticuffs and shouting was a meeting of some 800
members of civil society groups from 30 countries.

Organization of American States General Secretary José Miguel Insulza
called the representatives an important link to helping spread the
hemisphere's wealth and helping reduce inequality.

"Dialogue is not only speaking," he said. "It is also, to a great
degree, listening."

El Nuevo Herald staff writer Nora Gamez Torres contributed to this report.

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