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<h1 class="title">Venezuela Withdraws from OAS Civil Society Forum
in Solidarity with Cuba</h1>
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<p class="byline"> By <span class="author">Rachael Boothroyd</span>
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<div class="block-inner"><b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11326">http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11326</a></small></small></small></b><br>
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<p>Caracas, April 9th 2015 (<a href="http://venezuelanalysis.com"
target="_blank">venezuelanalysis.com</a>) Caracas has joined
Havana in withdrawing its delegation to the Civil Society Forum at
the 7th Summit of the Americas this week, after Cuban delegates
broke the news that at least 20 counter-revolutionary Cuban
“mercenaries” had also been invited to participate in the event.</p>
<p>Among the highly controversial figures set to participate in the
forum are the radical anti-Cuban government dissidents, Manuel
Cuesta Morúa, Elizardo Sánchez and Rosa María Payá, as well as
members of the Cuban exile community. All are known to have
financial ties to U.S. funding agencies such as the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) and have a history of trying to
subvert the Cuban government. Ex-CIA agent, <a
href="http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2015/04/08/piden-expulsion-del-asesino-del-che-de-panama-declaracion-de-la-oclae/"
target="_blank">Félix Rodríguez Mendigutía</a>, better known for
his role in the assassination of Argentinian revolutionary,
Ernesto “Che” Guevara, is also participating in the summit. </p>
<p>Although Mendigutía did not fire the bullet which murdered the
Argentine revolutionary guerrilla, he is documented to have
identified Guevara and chosen the weapon used to kill him. The
former CIA agent arrived in Panama earlier this week, where Cubans
have been staging a protest against his participation.</p>
<p>“The representatives of true civil society have left because we
aren’t going to share a space with representatives from a supposed
civil society, which is not our own and which is paid for… We
can’t share the same space. There can’t be mercenaries posing as
representatives of civil society. It’s impermissible,” explained
Cuban legislator Luis Morlote.</p>
<p>“They pride themselves on their friendship with terrorists,” he
added. </p>
<p>The Venezuelan delegation withdrew almost immediately after,
citing solidarity with Cuba and its rejection to the nature of the
other participants. </p>
<p>The forum, which was set to begin on Wednesday, was temporarily
delayed by the protest but eventually got underway without the
presence of the Cuban or Venezuelan delegations. Nonetheless, the
Cuban delegation has confirmed that it will participate in the
upcoming discussion groups over the next few days, despite the
fact that more than twenty of its representatives had failed to
receive their official passes for the summit. </p>
<p>“We don’t understand why, if we are in a list of accepted
delegates to the forum, they still haven’t given us the
credentials that will allow us to participate,” stated
representative of the Union of Cuban Journalists, Yoerky Sanchez. </p>
<p>Cuban writer, Abel Prieto, is another figure who has so far been
denied the official credentials to participate in the forum,
despite having been accepted. </p>
<p>He also echoed the sentiment of other delegates that many of the
dissidents at the forum had ties to Cuban terrorists currently
being protected in the U.S, such as ex-CIA agent, Luis Posada
Carriles, who carried out a terrorist attack against a Cuban plane
in 1976 killing 73 people. </p>
<p>“How can we hope to have a serious, transparent, dignified and
civilised conversation in the Americas, if those who protect those
terrorists are registered to participate at the forums at the
summit?” he asked. </p>
<p>According to reports, the withdrawal of the two delegations comes
after an affray between anti-government and pro-government
supporters earlier on this week and the temporary detention of a
number of Cuban dissidents by Panamanian immigration authorities
on arriving at Tocumen airport over the weekend. </p>
<p>According to Tweets by Rosa María Payá, Panamanian authorities
had expected the subversives to cause a disturbance. </p>
<p>It is the first time that Cuba is participating in the OAS
summit, which has traditionally excluded the Caribbean country due
to pressure from the White House. </p>
<p>Venezuela has been a constant ally to Cuba and has consistently
argued that the country should be included in international
organisations such as the OAS and the United Nations, from which
it has been excluded since the U.S. began its economic blockade of
the island.</p>
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