Faced with the pandemic and the intensification of the United States blockade against countries in the region, our democracies do not base their forces on arms, he said at the opening session of the meeting.

The president described as hypocritical the celebration of the so-called Democracy Summit in the United States, from where several of those attending the Havana meeting were excluded.

“In order not to be untrue, it should be called the non-democracy summit,” he noted.

Diaz-Canel recalled cooperation and the defense of sovereignty among the founding values of the organization.

“ALBA was born out of solidarity, it asserts itself in the power of the peoples to transform history,” he acknowledged.

The 20th Summit is the culmination of a year of intense work after dozens of meetings and the 19th Summit of the organization, held virtually in Venezuela, he added.

Diaz-Canel ratified Cuba’s commitment to the regional Alliance and the member countries on its 17th anniversary.

“The call to continue strengthening it,” he concluded.

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