Summit of the Americas not exactly what organizers expected: Cuban president

HAVANA - Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday said the 9th Summit of the Americas held in the US city of Los Angeles from June 6-10 was not exactly what its organizers expected.

"I would ask you to share our most sincere appreciation with the governments of the region that firmly opposed the exclusions of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas," he said in a message to participants in the Peoples' Summit for Democracy.

Starting from 2005, "unionists, activists, grassroots organizations and progressive people of the Americas" traditionally call for a People's Summit "to counter" the Summit of the Americas, according to its official website.

Highlighting the support given by a group of Latin American and Caribbean governments, the president said that the exclusion of Cuba and the US-led sanctions against its people were rejected during this year's Summit of the Americas.

"North America is not the enemy. The North America of workers, indigenous populations and immigrants, who have also been excluded, not only once but day after day, by the merciless empire of the market; that North America that you are showing to us, a rebellious, insubordinate, pro-active and fraternal North America, is our natural sister (and it) is not, and will never be, our enemy," Diaz-Canel said.

"Thank you for giving voice to the excluded. Thank you for painting the horizon with hope. Thank you for ratifying to us, once again, that a better world is possible," he added in the message.