Panama foreign minister invites Raul Castro to Americas Summit

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Panama foreign minister invites Raul Castro to Americas Summit
By Marc Frank
HAVANA Fri Sep 19, 2014 11:49am EDT


(Reuters) - Panamanian Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo personally invited Cuban President Raul Castro to the Summit of the Americas her nation is hosting in April, according to a Cuban government statement published on Friday.

De Saint Malo met with Castro on Thursday during a one-day visit to Cuba, where she delivered a verbal invitation that puts the United States on the spot diplomatically.

Washington, which initiated the summits in 1994, blocked Cuba’s invitation to the previous six events, saying the Communist-ruled country’s one-party political system was not democratic.

Panama’s invitation amounts to a diplomatic coup for Cuba and follows demands by governments of many Latin American and Caribbean countries that it be invited.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/19/us-cuba-panama-idUSKBN0HE1TW20140919?rpc=401

[geek tragedy]

1. Good move . nt

[Ken Burch]

2. Then again, the US was fine with right-wing military dictatorships going to those events.

And helped turn some democracies in which the people voted to put their own needs ahead of corporate profits INTO states that were "not democratic":

[Mika]

3. Its far past time for this.

Viva Cuba!

[hr]

Cuba sending medical teams to fight Ebola
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuba-sending-medical-teams-to-fight-ebola/

Cuban Medical Graduates Oath, 2005*

We Pledge:
To strive always to be worthy representatives of Cuban health professionals, devoting ourselves with true love to our profession, with a profound respect for human life, feeling the pain of others as our own, seeing in each patient and their family our own loved ones, and working tirelessly towards excellence in health services.

We Pledge:
To make every effort, every day to improve ourselves professionally, politically and culturally, so as to offer the highest quality care to our people, based on the principles of medical ethics and revolutionary values that reject commercialization, corruption, and the mistreatment of people wherever we may find ourselves.

We Pledge:
To serve the revolution unconditionally wherever we are needed, with the premise that true medicine is not that which cures, but that which prevents, whether in an isolated community on our island or in any sister country of the world, where we will always be the standard bearers of solidarity and internationalism.

*Excerpt, Cuban Medical Graduates Oath, read September 19, 2005 at graduation ceremonies, Havana.

[craigmatic]

4. I don't see what the big deal is. Let them attend. It's their world too.

Our policy towards Cuba is outdated and arbitrary.

[roody]

5. Maybe the USA can grow up.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Good

Thanks for posting Judi.



"United States on the spot diplomatically. " Permanent uninvited to the US should sort that nicely.