The resolution, introduced by the Salvadoran regime at the conclusion of the summit and approved by all the governments represented except for Cuba, singled out the Basque pro-independence group ETA as "terrorist." In explaining Cuba's abstention on the vote, Castro pointed to imperialism's bloody role in the world, highlighting Tel Aviv's brutality against the Palestinian people, Washington's responsibility for the tens of thousands killed during El Salvador's civil conflict in the 1980s, and U.S.-backed attacks by right-wing terrorists against Cuba itself.

After arriving in Panama City for the summit, Cuban officials denounced the presence in that country of CIA-trained terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and other counterrevolutionaries who have been involved in numerous attempts to assassinate him, thus virtually forcing the Panamanian government to arrest the rightists.

Posada Carriles was involved in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner over Barbados that killed all 73 persons aboard. He has also bragged about his role in a string of bombings in Havana in 1997, including one that killed an Italian tourist. The Cuban government has requested Posada Carriles and other individuals arrested with him be extradited to the island in order to bring them to justice.

The Cuban leadership has launched a public effort demanding the extradition of Posada Carriles. This began with the November 25 demonstration of 30,000 in Guisa, in the eastern province of Granma. Two days later, Castro spoke at a rally of 100,000 youth in Havana, sponsored by the major student organizations, that called on the Panamanian government to extradite Posadas Carriles to Cuba. He was accompanied by Luis Inácio "Lula" da Silva, leader of the Workers Party of Brazil, who joined in the call for extradition.

In his speech in Guisa, Castro reiterated his government's rejection of the anti-ETA resolution adopted at the summit because of its hypocritical and "selective treatment" of what is deemed terrorism.  
 
Antiterror motion 'cooked up in Spain'
The Cuban leader noted that Salvadoran president Francisco Flores had traveled to Spain before the summit meeting. Castro stated, "His hypocritical statement on terrorism was cooked up beforehand with the government of Spain, an emerging European economic power in Latin America, which at times has been useful in the struggle against the voraciousness of the North, but whose political leadership acts with an evident tendency toward arrogance."

Spanish capitalists have increasingly invested in Latin America in recent years, buying up telecommunications, banks, and other sources of profits.

Castro pointed out that the anti-ETA motion "was immediately seconded by the president of a different Mexico," in a criticism directed at outgoing president Ernesto Zedillo. Mexico, he stated, "is now ruled by the interests, principles, and commitments imposed by the [Free Trade Agreement].

"Whether because of their neoliberal affinities or the deceitful nature of the issue, the proposal received the support of all the rest" of the heads of state at the summit, Castro said. "Almost all those gathered there, as we know, hold very different political, economic, and social ideas from the revolutionary and ethical ideas of our heroic people. Yet there was no hesitation in maintaining our position, even knowing beforehand what they would do."

Castro criticized Flores for sponsoring an antiterrorrism resolution, being "the president of a country that has been the U.S. base for counterrevolution in Central America and refuge for the worst terrorist known in this hemisphere," referring to Posada Carriles.

He said Flores had falsely feigned ignorance about the rightist's presence in El Salvador. The Cuban government, he said, had given him information about Posada Carriles's whereabouts since October 1999, but the Salvadoran government "did absolutely nothing." At the summit, Flores accused Castro personally of being responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in El Salvador's civil conflict. The Cuban president replied by pointing to the massive military backing Washington had given the Salvadoran regimes in the 1980s to wage its bloody war against the revolutionary movement.

In Mexico, the government there stated that it would issue no official response to the criticism by the Cuban revolutionary leader "out of courtesy." Castro is expected to visit Mexico and attend the December 1 inauguration of president-elect Vicente Fox. Mexican officials tried to justify their position at the summit, however, by noting that the anti-ETA motion had been approved by all governments present except for Cuba.

The new Fox administration has declared it will campaign around "human rights" and "democracy" as part of its foreign policy. The real character of such a campaign became clear when the daily El País of Spain reported that the new foreign minister, Jorge Castañeda, "will continue the antiterrorist collaboration that the government of Ernesto Zedillo provided to Spain."  
 
 
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