Latin American Parliament angry at decision to leave Havana out of important Iberoamerican legislative meeting

Radio Havana Cuba, Cuba News, 20 May 1997

Caracas, May 20(RHC)-- The Latin American Parliament's Board of Directors has rejected Spain's arbitrary decision to exclude Cuba from an Iberoamerican meeting set for Madrid this month. Recently the organizing commission of the Iberoamerican Parliaments Conference, scheduled for the Spanish capital on may 29th and the 30th, decided to exclude the Caribbean island as a full member of that gathering.

The President of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon categorically rejected Madrid's invitation to participate as an observer. In a letter protesting the decision, Alarcon upheld the Cuban parliament's full membership in the conference and termed the decision intolerable, unilateral and discriminatory. Cuba said that all Latin American legislative bodies, and at Mexico's initiative, gathered at the Latin American parliaments' Board of Directors meeting in the Venezuelan capital, have agreed to send a message to the Spanish government rejecting the decision and reiterating the Cuban National Assembly's right to participate in the Madrid gathering as a full member.