Canada, U.S. urged to rethink policy on Cuba, war on drugs

New dialogue needed, Columbia’s president tells leaders at summit

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA— The subjects might not have been to Stephen Harper or Barack Obama’s taste, but the exclusion of Cuba and the war on drugs dominated the discussion among hemispheric leaders at the opening of the Summit of the Americas. The summit host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, delivered a frank speech to the gathering in which he declared it would be “unacceptable” to hold another summit without Cuba present. Cuba’s membership in the Organization of American States (OAS) was suspended in 1962, and only Canada and the United States have not lobbied for it to be included at the summit table. “The isolation, the embargo, the indifference, the looking the other way, don’t work,” Santos said. “This path is no longer acceptable in today’s world. It’s an anachronism that keeps us anchored in a Cold War era that was overcome decades ago.” Similarly, the secretary general of the OAS made pointed remarks about promoting tolerance and dialogue. “Democracy is advancing in the Americas and the best way to strengthen it is not with external pressure, impositions or exclusion,” said Jose Maria Insulza. Santos said the time had come to set aside “dogmas” of the past, and open a candid discussion about the war on drugs. He and many other Latin American leaders are calling for an analysis of the current policy of prohibition versus possible regulation and decriminalization. The region, particularly Central America and Mexico, has suffered the loss of tens of thousands of lives in drug-related violence. Harper’s office has said the prime minister is not entertaining any change that would lift the prohibition of illicit drugs. Latin America’s increasingly unit- ed and emboldened voice comes at a time of impressive economic growth in the face of a global economic downturn.

A new grouping of leaders, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), includes all of the hemisphere’s countries except Canada and the U.S.

Harper is spending the summit selling Canada as an attractive location for business and investment, and trying to encourage more trade.