L. American summit dubbed 'neocolonial'

HAVANA/MIAMI — Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Saturday that the Latin American summit convened in Florida by his US counterpart was "neocolonial", as US President Donald Trump welcomed Latin American leaders to Florida on Saturday to launch a new coalition against drug cartels.

"The small, reactionary and neocolonial summit in Florida, convened by the US with the participation of right-wing governments from the region, commits them to accepting the lethal use of US military force to solve internal problems and to maintain order and peace in their countries," Diaz-Canel said in an X post, after Trump asserted the island nation is in "its final moments".

The summit gathered a dozen leaders aligned with Washington to address the fight against drug cartels as the US administration imposes a de facto oil blockade on Cuba, which has faced blackouts and shortages of food and medicine.

The idea for the summit of gathering leaders from across the hemisphere, including Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana and Panama, emerged from the ashes of what was to be the 10th edition of the Summit of the Americas, which was scrapped during the US military buildup off the coast of Venezuela last year.

Agencies via Xinhua