Havana, May 18 (ACN) The organizing committee of the Summit of the Peoples—a gathering usually operating parallel to the Summit of the Americas— denounced Washington’s denial of visas to a Cuban civil society 23-member delegation that would attend the event.
The visa denial is an affront to the democratic values that Washington and its Summit of the Americas—June 6-10— intend to defend, reads the communique by the organizers.
With this decision and the exclusion of Cuba from the Summit of the Americas, the US has denied the island nation to raise its voice in the vital debates on democracy, integration and regional cooperation.
Among the 23 persons who were denied visas is scientist Tania Crombet Ramos, member of the World Academy of Sciences, who contributed to the development of several vaccines that saved lives.
Also included in the denial was Olympic wrestler Reineris Salas; Christian student leader Jorge Gonzalez Nunez as well as journalists, unionists and community leaders.
It is an affront against the necessary dialog and normalization of relations between the US and the Cuban peoples, who have been illegally separated by the US blockade,” reads the statement, which concludes by urging Washington and it embassy in Havana to reconsider their decision to deny the visas to the members of Cuba’s Civil Society.
