Cuba set for historic return
But violence in Venezuela could split meeting’s participants
Prime Minister Stephen Harper flies to Panama on Friday for a summit of western hemisphere leaders that features a historic welcoming of Cuba to the table.
But that development at the Summit of the Americas — almost certain to produce a memorable photo of the U.S. and Cuban leaders shaking hands — could be overshadowed by growing tensions connected to human rights abuses in Venezuela.
By the time the two-day summit is over, the leaders could be split — with Latin American neighbours such as Cuba that either rally to the side of Venezuela or remain mum on its human-rights record, versus other countries like Canada and the U.S. that speak out.
The leader of Venezuela, where food shortages and protests have led to a violent security crackdown and arrests of political opponents, is now in a war of words with U.S. President Barack Obama.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with the support of Cuban leader Raul Castro, has publicly railed against U.S. “imperialism” after Obama last month imposed economic sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials the U.S. says are linked to human rights violations.
Harper, whose government in February urged Venezuela to meet its “international obligations” on human rights after recent “needless violence,” could now be dragged into the fray.
At the last summit, in Colombia in 2012, Harper and Obama opposed calls from Latin American leaders to invite Cuba to this week’s gathering — after more than 50 years of being excluded from the 35-nation Organization of American States (OAS).
At the time, Harper said he was standing on “principle” and wouldn’t accept Cuba at the next summit because it “should be restricted to democratic countries.”
Shortly before a surprise announcement last December that the U.S. and Cuba will try to normalize relations, Panama invited Cuba to this week’s summit. The rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba was made possible because Canada facilitated secret negotiations between the two countries on Canadian soil. But it’s unclear how Harper feels about Cuba being at the OAS table so soon.
Andrew Thompson, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a think-tank in Waterloo, Ont., said Thursday that Cuba’s attendance at the summit will be historic. “We have come to a point where the U.S., and the world more broadly, is ready for Cuba to be integrated into the world economy and into the hemisphere.”