Legacy of the 20th Rio group summit

The Latin American countries capacity to solve their conflicts by themselves was the most outstanding result of the 20th Rio Group Summit that has just concluded here.

Representatives from the 20 member countries of that regional mechanism arrived in Santo Domingo amid the crisis that resulted from the attack by Colombian soldiers on a camp of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) on Ecuadorian territory.
The growing tension among the governments of Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua with the Colombian administration on previous days was a bad premonition.

Conditions existed for a political and diplomatic battle whose results were reserved and perhaps, for that reason, the hosts had planned to suspend TV broadcasts of the meeting after the conclusion of the protocol segment at the opening session. Finally, the entire meeting was broadcast.That way, TV viewers could watch the heated verbal duel between

Presidents Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) and Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and the speeches given by other heads of delegations. All of them, without exception, condemned the violation of Ecuadorian sovereignty, demanded respect for International Law and advocated a peaceful solution to the conflict.

That unanimity made the debate constructive and the first signs ofconsensus appeared. Attendees listened to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who was calm, convincing, persuasive and full of arguments in favor of regional peace and integration.

According to one of the participants in the summit, Chavez's speech dissipated tensions and paved the way to conciliation.The rest of the story is well known: Uribe gave up his intention to accuse Chavez of alleged links with the FARC before the International Criminal Court, apologized to Ecuador and committed himself to not attacking any other country for security reasons again.

For his part, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega reconsidered hiscountry's breaking up diplomatic relations with Colombia, while Correa pointed out that "with the commitment to not attacking a brother country again and the apology, we can consider this very serious incident overcome."

After that, they shook hands and even exchanged cordial phrases. Uribe, visibly tired, greeted Chavez, Ortega and Correa personally. The latter was courteous, but his expression showed discomfort and his gaze was penetrating while he was talking with the Colombian president.

Another delegate said the Latin American and Caribbean composition of the Rio Group, which excludes the United States, was a key factor to overcome the crisis.According to Fidel Castro, "the undeniable fact is that, on the brink of armed conflicts between sister nations stemming from Yankee intrigues, for now peace has been sealed, as has the awareness that we can avert wars between peoples united by solid bonds of brotherhood."

In an article published a few hours after the conclusion of the Rio Group Summit, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution noted the fact that the debate did not take place within the OAS and, most importantly, US diplomats were not in attendance.

"In one way or another, despite the profound ideological and tactical differences, everyone shone and showed the virtues that earned them important positions in office," he added.

"Though much still lies ahead, as the meeting on Globalization andDevelopment Problems held in Havana has shown, ultimately, imperialism proved the one and only loser," Fidel Castro stressed.