MIAMI, United States. – The coordinator of Cuba Decide, Rosa María Payá, answered this monday a representative of civil society from Panama who advocated the inclusion of the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela in the IX Summit of the Americas, during one of the parallel sessions to the hemispheric event.
“The exhibition (…) of the lady from Panama has left us representatives of Cuban civil society here very nervous. I think you answered very well when you said that the Inter-American Charter is very clear in defending the right to democracy of peoples”, the activist began her intervention.
“The Cuban people have not lived in democracy for 62 years, the Venezuelan people for 20 years, the Nicaraguan people are suffering one of the worst repressions. Removing dictators from the table of democracy means listening to the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan peoples,” he asserted to applause.
Payá also assured that he was “very concerned” about the organization of the civil society forums. “We do not know how the spokespersons were chosen. I am very concerned about a spokesperson that is defending the right of the dictatorship to be at the table instead of the right of the people to live in democracy,” he said.
“I ask everyone who is present here today (…) to talk about the issues that are making our hemisphere bleed,” he added.
“I ask everyone to talk about the dictatorships in our hemisphere, which not only affect Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, [sino] that affect Colombia, that affect the United States, that affect Guatemala, that affect all the countries that are transit or destination for people fleeing dictatorships,” he pointed out.
He also said that these issues should be discussed at the democratic governance table. “That should be discussed at the summit of the presidents, how to stop giving concessions to Venezuela, the Cuban dictator or the Nicaraguan dictator, and start supporting the right of peoples to live in democracy,” he concluded.
After Payá, the Cuban musician Yotuel Romero briefly took the floor to support the exclusion of the Cuban regime from the hemispheric event. “If we send the wrong message to the youth (…) those young people are going to think that being a dictator is good,” he said.
In early May, the United States government confirmed his decision not to invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the IX Summit of the Americas for not respecting democracy.
According to statements by the US Undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, the absence of Havana, Managua and Caracas is consistent with the policy of the Biden administration, which has prioritized respect for Human Rights in international relations issues.
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