Cuba's Castro assumes CELAC presidency [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Cuba's Castro assumes CELAC presidency
Associated Press
Posted on January 28, 2013 at 1:32 PM
Updated today at 1:36 PM

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Cuban President Raul Castro assumed the presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States on Monday in a demonstration of regional unity against U.S. efforts to isolate the communist government through a 50-year-old economic embargo.

Castro was warmly welcomed by his colleagues as he spoke Monday at the closing ceremony of the CELAC summit in Santiago, taking over the rotating presidency from Chile.

He described what he called "a common vision for the Latin American and Caribbean homeland," saying that CELAC "joins the 33 independent nations of our America to build a space for national sovereignty and encourage integration."

Castro said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had helped realize South American independence hero Simon Bolivar's dream of unifying the region by negotiating the creation of the CELAC bloc in December 2011.

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