HAVANA, June 10 (NNN-TELESUR) –Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly (ANC) President Diosdado Cabello met with Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Communist Party secretary Raul Castro in Havana, to confirm the friendly relations the two countries enjoy and to finalize preparations for the annual meeting of the 25th Sao Paulo Forum being held in Caracas, Venezuela from July 24 to 28.
“We must remain united because we have a very powerful common enemy. … The United States has decided to radicalize its attacks against us,” Cabello said after the Friday meeting and thanked the solidarity the Cuban Revolution has shown to Venezuela as President Donald Trump administration has intensified its economic warfare.
“We reviewed pending details of Cuban support for the Sao Paulo Forum … and information on how to integrate Venezuela and Cuba because they are attacking us equally.”
Former President Castro reaffirmed the Caribbean island’s support to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian people.
The Sao Paulo Forum is a massive conference of Latin American political parties and social organizations, which was launched by the Brazilian Workers’ Party in 1990.
Since then it has become a meeting space where human rights, gender, the environment, and social activists seek alternatives to the neoliberal policies adopted by contemporary right-leaning governments in the region.
This high-level meeting happened on the same day Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freelandsaid that Cuba will play a role in mediating the political impasse in Venezuela.
“We are seeing an international convergence around the need for a peaceful transition in Venezuela,” Minister Freeland recognized, adding that “Cuba will have a role to play in this.”
The Canadian minister’s statements were made public after a dialogue with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. This was their second encounter in less than a month having met previously on May 16 in Havana for talks regarding the Venezuelan situation.
Canadian-Cuban diplomatic efforts, however, could be endangered due to the stance taken by the outspoken politician for the Venezuelan opposition Juan Guaido, who refuses to continue negotiations started in the Norwegian capital of Oslo in May.
“A new meeting is not planned at this time,” he said at a political rally where he insisted on calling for a new presidential election, a proposal which goes against the Venezuelan constitutional framework. — NNN-TELESUR
