Central America supports Cuba (Granma)


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         GRANMA INTERNATIONAL 1998. ELECTRONIC EDITION. Havana, Cuba

      SELA shows renewed will for integration

* Resolutions passed in support of Central America and against the
U.S. blockade of Cuba

* President Fidel Castro affirms this is a decisive moment for
humanity 

BY ANTONIO PANEQUE BRIZUELAS (Granma International writer)

THE 24th regular ministerial meeting of the Latin American Economic
System(SELA) in Havana endorsed with renewed vigor the growing need
for Latin American integration, now more necessary than ever to
confront the current world economic crisis, described by President
Fidel Castro as a decisive moment for humanity.
  Fidel affirmed that in trying to find paths for the nations of this
region, "we are of necessity finding paths for the world, that world
which today is involved in a battle for its very survival, because we
are all in the same boat which, if it sinks, will sink with everyone
on board, rich and poor, believers and non-believers."

In addition to the Cuban leader in his speech at the meeting, the
group of experts making up the high-level panel and representatives
from the 28 member countries, as well as the event's final documents,
all realistically and objectively reflected the regional effects of
the recent world crisis which began with the Asian financial
collapse. The meeting also covered other economic and financial
problems linked to natural disasters.
In that context one of the central ideas to emerge from the confer-
ence was the incapacity of international economic and financial
structures and their consequences for a region like Latin America,
thus highlighting the need for its integration.

The main document endorsed by the meeting, which was given the name
the Havana Declaration, expressed concern that the financial crisis
"could lead to a profound international economic recession with
negative effects on economic growth and stability in the countries of
the region."

DEEPER INTEGRATION
The meeting emphasized the importance of various integration
processes underway in Latin America and the Caribbean, noting that
"they have acquired renewed dynamism in recent years," and called for
strengthening and safeguarding them from the effects of the internat-
ional financial crisis and the negative aspects of globalization." In
this context, SELA's determination to continue developing those plans
and to put them into effect was reaffirmed, in order to attain the
objective of regional unity in the shortest period possible.

Conference participants agreed that the globalization of the interna-
tional economy must be oriented in a way that fosters consensus,
cooperation and solidarity, at the service of progress and in order
to contribute to the elimination of poverty and its causes, the
achievement of social equity and support for sustainable development.

In the final session of the two-day event, the ministers acknowledged
the hospitality shown by the people and government of Cuba, as well
as President Fidel Castro's "invaluable participation" in the high-
level panel on the dynamic of Latin America's foreign relations, the
main theme of the meeting.
   The 13 resolutions approved by SELA, which came into existence in
1973, included one that reaffirms the "most energetic condemnation of
the Helms-Burton Act, as well as any type of measure aimed at
strengthening, extending or internationalizing the blockade." Another
significant agreement was to establish a regional coordination
mechanism for the directors of technical cooperation, in order to
overseen activities to aid states affected by natural disasters."JC
 
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