Ana María Mari Machado, Vice President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba, participated this Tuesday in the Latin American and Caribbean Parliamentary Summit, held at the permanent headquarters of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino) in Panama.
According to the newspaper Juventud Rebelde, the event brought together the highest legislative authorities of the region, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Amphictyonic Congress of Panama convened by Simón Bolívar, with the purpose of strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation and reaching agreements on integration, peace, democracy, multilateralism, governance, climate action, and sustainable development.
In her address, Mari Machado conveyed greetings from the President of the National Assembly of People’s Power and the Council of State, Esteban Lazo Hernández, and from the Cuban deputies, while recalling Bolívar’s words on regional unity.
The Vice President noted that the Parliamentary Summit is taking place in a delicate context for Latin America and the Caribbean, marked by threats to the Proclamation of the region as a Zone of Peace, signed at the Second Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Havana in 2014 and ratified by the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) in 2014.
She reiterated Cuba’s condemnation of the military aggression by the United States government against Venezuela on January 3, 2016, which included the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro Moros and Deputy Cilia Flores, and in which 32 Cuban combatants lost their lives.
Mari Machado described the act as state terrorism and a violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, with dangerous consequences for the international community.
She denounced the fact that imperial threats extend to other countries in the region and the world, and recalled that Cuba has suffered for more than six decades from the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States, repeatedly condemned in the United Nations General Assembly.
Addressing parliamentary leaders, she stated that the U.S. government intends to revive the Monroe Doctrine to control the region’s natural resources, while Cuban parliamentarians defend multilateralism and reject war, plunder, and unilateral coercive measures.
She emphasized the importance of the meeting convened by the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) and Cuba’s willingness to institutionalize legislative cooperation and maintain the exchange of experiences, as well as to continue providing solidarity and cooperation to the region.
On the eve of the 173rd anniversary of José Martí’s birth, Mari Machado quoted his words from the essay “Our America,” where he wrote: “The trees must stand in a row so that the seven-league giant cannot pass! It is the hour of reckoning, and of united marching, and we must walk in close formation, like the silver in the roots of the Andes,” concluded Machado.
The Parliamentary Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean is being held for the first time in history as a prelude to the Latin America and Caribbean International Economic Forum 2026.
IMAGE CREDIT: ACN | Author: Cuban Ambassador to Panama and PARLATINO
[ SOURCE: AGENCIA CUBANA DE NOTICIAS ]
