MADRID : Hail Columbus!
More than 20 Latin American presidents are expected to attend a summit conference Thursday and Friday in the Spanish capital underlining their countries’ ties to Spain 500 years after Columbus sailed to the Indies.
Most of the presidents will represent democratic governments, but the list also includes authoritarian presidents: old-timer Fidel Castro of Cuba and neophyte Alberto Fujimori of Peru. Worried about the unsettled political situation in their country, Venezuela’s Congress unanimously denied President Carlos Andres Perez authorization to leave.
Perez and many of his colleagues, including Fujimori and Castro, have severe economic problems that undoubtedly will be a focus at the meeting, as will efforts to create regional common markets similar to the European Economic Community.
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