Margarita, Venezuela, Nov 15 (EFE).- Cuba will be criticized at the Ibero-American summit in Margarita Island because of its indifference to adopting democratic recommendations issued during the last summit, Latin American diplomats said Wednesday.
The Cubans, who have come ready to defend their own "democratic" stand, will be criticized by some of the delegations who consider the regime's progress on citizen participation and individual freedom as non-existent.
In particular, the Nicaraguan government admitted that it will submit a "brotherly complaint" regarding the reasons why Cuba did not fulfill the commitments accepted in the Ibero-American summit, held in Chile in 1996.
The Viña del Mar Declaration focused on the defense of democracy, on the state of rights, on political pluralism, on human rights and on fundamental freedom, "as the framework for an efficient and participative democracy."
A Colombian diplomatic spokesman told EFE that although there is interest in Cuba being more open and efficient, criticisms will be made on an individual basis and the matter - which has been widely discussed before and, in which, the U.S. is particularly interested - will not be dealt with in-depth.
A Cuban diplomat said that the U.S. had surely requested some countries to "tendentiously insist" on the issue. EFE