Panama City, April 11
US President Barack
Obama met here with Cuban and Venezuelan government opponents on the eve
of his scheduled face-to-face talks with Cuban leader Raul Castro,
calling on regional governments not to fear civil society and to respect
differences of opinion.
Obama, who arrived in Panama on Thursday
from Jamaica to attend his 7th Summit of the Americas, visited the
Panama Canal, met with Central American leaders including the host
nation's president Juan Carlos Varela and took part in business and
civil society forums on Friday.
In the latter gathering, he
received a round of applause when he said that "strong nations don't
fear active citizens; strong nations embrace and support and empower
active citizens", Spanish news agency Efe reported.
Obama said
that when the US has spoken out in support of a person who is in prison
merely for questioning the actions of those in power it did so because
it was "the right thing" to do.
"Civil society is the conscience
of our countries," Obama said. "And we should reject violence or
intimidation that's aimed at silencing people's voices."
"We
believe that strong, successful countries require strong and vibrant
civil societies," said Obama, whose speech was interrupted by applause
on several occasions.
Obama also used the civil society forum to
defend the historic rapprochement between the US and Cuba, saying he
hoped the steps taken since December to restore full diplomatic
relations after a more than 50-year rift "create an environment that
improves the lives of the Cuban people" despite the differences between
the nation's governments.
The US president is scheduled to meet
on Saturday with Castro on the sidelines of the 7th Summit of the
Americas to further that reconciliation process.
"As we move
toward the process of normalisation, we'll have our differences,
government to government, with Cuba on many issues -- just as we differ
at times with other nations within the Americas; just as we differ with
our closest allies. There's nothing wrong with that."
Obama,
meanwhile, said generally that "human rights and fundamental freedoms
are still at risk" in the region and in other parts of the world, but he
did not specifically mention any cases affecting Venezuelan government
opponents or Cuban dissidents.
The White House, which did not
provide details of Obama's meeting with the government opponents, said
that among those attending the gathering were Cuban moderate dissident
Manuel Cuesta Morua, Cuban dissident Laritza Diversent and Venezuelan
attorney and human rights activist Rocio San Miguel.
On Tuesday,
28 international and Latin American human rights organisations issued a
statement accusing leftist-led Venezuela of "intimidating and harassing
human rights defenders and making unsubstantiated allegations that they
are seeking to undermine Venezuelan democracy", New York-based Human
Rights Watch, one of the signatories, said.
The normalisation
process with Cuba is temporarily overshadowing growing tensions between
Washington and Venezuela, Cuba's main ally.
Those tensions were
exacerbated last month when the Obama administration decided to impose
economic sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials accused of rights
abuses.
In that March 9 executive order, Obama also referred to
leftist-led Venezuela as a threat to US national security, although the
White House has since backtracked and said that South American nation is
not a threat.
