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'Remove US military bases from Latin America'

Latin American countries should discuss removing all US military bases from their soil, a top official of integration organization UNASUR [Union of South American Nations] suggested. The issue may be discussed next month at the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Panama. The Summit of the Americas on April 10 and 11 is to be attended by regional leaders, with 31 nations already confirming attendance. UNASUR Secretary-General Ernesto Samper suggested that the summit would be a good place to 'reassess relations between the US and South America.' [...] He added that the bases were 'a leftover from the days of the Cold War and other clashes.'”

Samper also blasted Washington’s habit of taking unilateral steps to pursue its goals in Latin America. The latest example is the US declaration of Venezuela as a threat to its national security, he said.”

The Panama meeting has already been declared historic as it will be the first one attended by Cuba since 1962, when it was expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS), the event’s organizing body. In 2014, the US and Canada blocked the proposal to readmit Cuba, which drew criticism from UNASUR and a boycott of last year’s summit of the Americas by Ecuador and Nicaragua.”

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