SLP, Mexico.- The representatives of Cuba and Argentina closed the XXIX Ibero-American Summit in Cuenca with a confrontation in the plenary session, after the regime official openly expressed his disagreement with Argentina’s intention to eliminate a condemnation from the official declaration to the United States embargo on the Island.
The Summit, which concluded this Friday, November 15 in Ecuador without an official declaration from the 19 attending nations, culminated in the tense clash between the Cuban, Rodolfo Benitezand the Argentine official.
Benítez, general director of Multilateral Affairs and International Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), accused Argentina of trying to “derail” the summit by denying climate change and the rights of women and indigenous peoples.
He also insisted that the non-inclusion of a condemnation of the United States economic embargo was unacceptable and accused the diplomat in Javier Milei’s cabinet of supporting “the killing of Palestinians” by the Israeli army.
In his speech, the Cuban also argued that relations between the Cuban and Argentine governments should “prevail,” regardless of “any ideological and political differences and the whims of a government in power“.
Eduardo Acevedo Ambassador of Argentina in Ecuador, responded to the Cuban’s speech with a reference to the violations of the rule of law and human rights on the island, crimes to which the Government of the South American country could not remain indifferent.
Emphatically, Benítez stated that the Argentine Government tried to boycott the session and the statements against hate speech, and went so far as to accuse the delegation of that country of “trying to erase the rights of women and men from the Summit documents.” the sustainable development goals.
Acevedo, in response, argued that they “firmly” rejected the statements of the Cuban delegate “about my country, about my government and about the sovereign foreign policy of the Argentine Republic.”
“The Ibero-American community is governed by the principle of consensus. Argentina provided that consensus for 71 of the 72 paragraphs of the draft Cuenca Declaration and 17 of the 24 special communiqués and was ready to adopt all of them as documents of the Ibero-American Summit. Unfortunately, Cuba did not provide consensus yesterday for this nor for the 17 communiqués that could be adopted at the summit,” he said.
He also pointed out that the reason why the Cuban representative attacked Argentina was related to the non-acceptance of the condemnatory clause of the embargo.
“Argentina respects the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States, but it cannot and will not remain indifferent to violations of the rule of law and human rights wherever they occur, as in this case in Cuba,” said.
Cuba, he reiterated, “is the one who must restore democracy, respect the human rights and individual freedoms of its inhabitants.”
“The Ibero-American Summit, which was held these days in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador, has staged the disunity of the Latin American countries,” summarized the newspaper. The Countryafter analyzing the tensions and lack of consensus exhibited these days on Ecuadorian soil.
The forum, which began in 1991, had the lowest attendance of regional leaders this year. With the exception of the host, Daniel Noboa, no president from Latin America attended.
The discrepancies between the Caribbean country and the South American country that broke out this Friday have as an immediate precedent the dismissal of the Argentine Foreign Minister, Diana Mondino, after she voted in the United Nations (UN) in favor of the uprising. of the US embargo against Cuba.
In a release broadcast in the X profile of the President’s Office, the Argentine Government highlighted that that nation opposed the Cuban dictatorship and would condemn regimes that violate human rights.
