Spainish Summit, how they view the US.

[splat@14]

Bush is overwhelmed buy all the events he has handle. What with Katrina/Rita, "Plamegate", indictments and investigations, polls, etc. George is in over his head and, because he appointed folks that are also over their heads this is just one more joker in his house of cards.
Splat!





Though not physically present, Castro controlled the agenda, which consisted mostly of bashing the U.S.
10/21/2005

Denouncing the U.S. has become “a tradition” for Latin American countries, said Lamia Oualalou in Paris’ Le Figaro. Yet at the 15th annual Ibero-American summit in Spain last week—which brings together leaders of Spain, Portugal, and the 19 Latin American countries—that tradition has reached a new height. As usual, the summit’s final declaration contained a condemnation of the U.S. embargo against Cuba. This time, though, the rhetoric was “even stronger.” The usual wording calls on the U.S. simply to end the “embargo,” but this year’s declaration called for a lifting of the “blockade.” That may seem an insignificant change, but as the term Cuba prefers, “blockage” is loaded with symbolism.

The Americans were furious, said Marisa Cruz in Madrid’s El Mundo. Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero already was viewed with deep suspicion in Washington, since he won his office by promising to pull his country’s troops out of Iraq. The last thing he needed was a “new and thorny sticking point” in U.S. relations. So he ordered a “spectacular diplomatic mobilization,” including phone calls and embassy visits, to try to convince the U.S. that the new wording meant nothing. The perceived difference in nuance between “blockade” and “embargo,” Zapatero argued, was just “a simple linguistic problem between Spanish and English.” In the end, the U.S. forced a change, making Spain stipulate that the blockade is not military, but “economic, commercial, and financial.”

Even so, it was a victory for Fidel Castro, said Renaud Dutreil in Paris’ Les Echos. The Cuban dictator didn’t even come to the summit, saying he had to stay home and direct the relief effort for victims of Hurricane Stan. Yet, once again, he controlled the agenda. In another slap at the U.S., the summit adopted a resolution urging the U.S. to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, the Venezuelan accused of bombing a Cuban airliner with CIA support back in 1976. “If it seems odd that such a small country as Cuba should dominate,” the reason is simple. The 22 Hispanic countries have widely differing economic and foreign-policy priorities, and they aren’t really united by any common goal. Blasting the U.S. for its demonization of Cuba is the one thing they all agree on.

Spain should not have gone along, said Madrid’s ABC in an editorial. At the conference, Prime Minister Zapatero went out of his way to flatter and appease the leaders of the two countries that are most hostile to the U.S.: Cuba and Venezuela. Castro, at least, wasn’t physically present. But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was, and Zapatero not only laughed and joked with him but also cut a deal to supply him weapons. The U.S. is bound to oppose such a transaction. Zapatero’s behavior was utterly “irresponsible.” He has seriously jeopardized Spain’s credibility—“particularly with the U.S.”

http://www.theweekmagazine.com/article.aspx?id=1170