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Coronavirus Impact, Focus of the 27th Ibero-American Summit

  • XXVII Ibero-American Summit: Leaders dialogue on global health system reform to better respond to future pandemics.

    XXVII Ibero-American Summit: Leaders dialogue on global health system reform to better respond to future pandemics. | Photo: Twitter @Ruptly

Published 22 April 2021
Opinion

The 27th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government opened in Andorra on a semi-virtual basis. Due to the pandemic, the summit focuses on the crisis derived from the coronavirus in the member countries of this organization.
 

In Latin America, the COVID-19 crisis has caused an 8% drop in GDP, a 13% drop in exports, the disappearance of 2.7 million small businesses, and the emergence of 78 million new poor. Latin American presidents denounce the lack of solidarity on the part of rich countries when it comes to distributing vaccines against COVID-19.

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Summit of Ibero-American Countries Begins In Andorra

Some presidents, such as Lenin Moreno of Ecuador and Ivan Duque of Colombia, took advantage of their speeches to attack Venezuela. However, Caracas did not hesitate to respond forcefully.  As appropriate, the government of President Nicolás Maduro was represented by its Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez. She gave a brief but forceful speech.

There were two critical elements in her speech: the first came with the denunciation of the criminal blockade that curtails the fundamental rights of the Venezuelan population amid a pandemic, now recognized as the worst and most widespread of all time. 

The second moment of political significance came when the top Venezuelan officer shot back at Colombia's president, Iván Duque, after his unfounded accusations and lies against Venezuela.  "If humanity saw itself in it as a mirror, the results would undoubtedly be apocalyptic, a terrible facsimile of failure. The failure to guarantee peace to the people of Colombia, the failure to eradicate drug crops," she said.

“It is incredible that in this pandemic, Colombia, the world’s leading producer of cocaine, has increased its production, also spawning a public health situation even more serious than the pandemic itself, disrupting international financial systems. She clarified that Venezuela had welcomed 6 million Colombians during 70 years of the Colombian war and never issued an international report to serve as a kind of “plea for the migrants that we received with love and serve with great dedication.”

She concluded by saying that “from Venezuela, we reject any type of claim that our sacred Bolívar’s land is used for drug trafficking or by the narcos of Colombia, the cartels and the United States agencies.”

She also echoed the words of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bemúdez: “The legitimacy of a country, of a government, of a State, lies in popular sovereignty. Those who speak of democracy must respect the will of the people of Venezuela who have chosen their authorities and their destiny within the framework of the principle of self-determination.”

In his speech at the summit, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel also denounced the political campaign against Venezuela. During the virtual meeting, he explained that in his country, scientific activity is a crucial factor for progress and the fulfillment of the goals of social justice, a legacy of the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro.

According to the recently elected first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the nation has a robust and innovative scientific system and an advanced biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry, allied to the free and quality healthcare system, in addition to well-qualified human resources.

Instead of asking for an equal distribution of vaccines, the Cuban leader presented as an achievement the Soberana 02 and Abdala vaccines, which were produced despite the U.S. blockade. He expects to immunize the entire Cuban population before the end of 2021.

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