America
No joint declaration from Americas summit after Venezuela-US tensions
Panama City, April 10
The Seventh Summit of
the Americas will end without a joint declaration due to Venezuela's
demand that it include a condemnation of sanctions the US has imposed on
it.
Delegates, including foreign ministers from 35 American
countries, met on Thursday ahead of the Summit and agreed that Panama,
as the event's host, should, in lieu of a joint declaration, draft a
final report of the meeting, according to Spanish news agency Efe.
That report will clarify any consensus reached at the Summit, convened under the motto "Prosperity with equity".
Sources at the meeting revealed that officials representing US Secretary of State John Kerry vetoed Venezuela's demand.
The
same sources revealed that Venezuela spoke with the backing of the vast
majority of Latin American and Caribbean governments including Cuba,
making its debut at the Summit following its rapprochement with the US.
Venezuelan
Minister of Foreign Affairs Delcy Rodriguez said after the meeting that
"we ratify our demand about the need for the decree to be repealed" and
added that "all vestiges of colonialism and imperialism existing in the
Americas must be eliminated".
Rodriguez said that as US
President Barack Obama had admitted that Venezuela was not a threat to
the US, he must now turn his words into actions.
Obama issued an
executive order on March 9 declaring Venezuela a national threat to the
US and imposing sanctions on some Venezuelan officials.
The White
House justified these sanctions by saying they were aimed at persons
involved in or responsible for the erosion of human rights and
persecution of political opponents in Venezuela.