Wed, April 18, 2012
HAVANA, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro Tuesday criticized the United States' political stance on Latin America at a just concluded pan-American summit, saying U.S.-style imperialism in Latin America was "exhausted."
"No matter what you call it, the system imposed by imperialism in this hemisphere is exhausted and cannot last," Castro said in his "Reflections," a regular editorial column published by official Cuban media.
The article was Castro's third dedication analyzing the outcome of the two-day 6th summit of the Organization of American States (OAS), which was held in Cartagena, Colombia, last weekend.
The summit, Castro said, was not a gathering of "uninformed presidents, but of the official representatives of 33 hemispheric countries, whose great majority demand answers to major economic and social problems that batter the region of the world with the greatest inequality in distribution of wealth."
The summit ended without a final joint declaration because the United States was reluctant to address Cuba's inclusion at future summits and the disputed Malvinas Islands issue, among others.
Washington says Cuba is not qualified for OAS membership as it is not a democracy.
"(U.S. President Barack) Obama talked of giving back land. He doesn't say how much, or when, or how," Castro said, adding that U.S. "transnationals will never give up control of the land, water, mines, natural resources of our countries."
The Cuban leader called on the United States to close its military bases in Latin America and "renounce unfair trade and the sacking of our nations."
In this article, he also hailed the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, a counterpart to the OAS but excluding the United States and Canada.
Castro expressed the hope that the new organization "will become what a hemispherical political organization should be."
Castro, 85, handed over power to his younger brother Raul in 2006 after undergoing a gastrointestinal surgery, but he remains politically active through his articles and interviews by visiting foreigners.
