Havana, Cuba.- Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today described the 9th Summit of the Americas, from which the U.S. government excluded his country, Venezuela and Nicaragua, as a neocolonial spectacle.

From the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, the president addressed the representatives of the island’s civil society which Washington denied visas in order to prevent their participation in the forum taking place in Los Angeles and in the parallel Summit of the Peoples for Democracy.

The United States has the capacity to prevent Cuba’s presence in Los Angeles, but it does not have the power to silence our voice, nor to silence the truth, he stressed.

The head of state said that Latin Americans and Caribbeans do not consider themselves nobody’s backyard. It is a notion that offends us and we reject it, he said.

In this regard, he added that with the constitution of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the countries of the region reaffirmed their unrestricted adherence to the defense of sovereignty, independence and self-determination. Also the promotion of unity and integration with respect for diversity.

With this vast, rich and complex region, the United States could cooperate and join efforts to face the great challenges of today’s world, but it has to be with absolute respect for sovereign equality, Díaz-Canel added.

He affirmed that times have changed and the America defined by José Martí “does not accept the imposition of imperialist interests, just as it does not accept that we be used for the conflicts of the United States with those it identifies as strategic rivals in other parts of the world”.

Among the Cuban representatives whom the United States prevented from attending the meeting are young people, scientists, sportsmen, journalists, artists and religious figures.