USA og Canada stod fast på ikke at invitere Cuba til næste topmøde for landene på den vestlige halvkugle – heller ikke opbakning til at støtte Argentinas krav på Malvinerne (Falklands øerne) i Atlanten, som kontrolleres af briterne.
A meeting of the heads of state and government of the Western Hemisphere has ended without a joint declaration, BBC online reports Monday.
The leaders, meeting in Colombia, failed to reach agreement on whether Cuba should attend the next gathering.
The US and Canada opposed demands by the Latin American nations to invite Cuba to the next Summit of the Americas to be held in Panama in 2015.
Cuba was excluded from participation in the Organization of American States, which runs the summits, 50 years ago.
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa had boycotted the summit in protest at the lack of an invitation for Cuba.
Many other Latin American and Caribbean nations had also expressed their unhappiness about Cuba’s continued exclusion and, to avoid further cancellations (afbud), the host country had promised to put the issue on the agenda.
US President Barack Obama said that, unlike the other participants, Cuba “has not yet moved to democracy, has not yet observed basic human rights.”
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was frustrated that no agreement was reached to include a declaration of support for Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands in the summit’s final statement.
The Falklands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, has been controlled by Britain since 1833 but Argentina claims the territory, saying it inherited rights to them from Spain.
The summit’s host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, welcomed the decision to give the Organization of American States (OAS) a mandate to analyse and discuss drug policies.
Mr Santos said the OAS would examine whether current policies were working, or if there were more effective and cheaper ways to fight the war on drugs.
He stressed that the debate was not about whether drugs should be legalised but about conducting an independent and unbiased study into the best way to counter illegal drug trafficking and organised crime.
