MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's message to UK and US: “utterly ridiculous considering any regional country a threat.”

“I will not appeal to sovereignty. I will appeal to common sense. It is absolutely ridiculous considering any of us (regional countries) a threat.”

Addressing the Americas summit in Panama, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez strongly criticized United States policies towards the hemisphere, particularly Venezuela, and expressed 'surprise' at the parallelism between the Caracas/Washington current dispute and the latest round of Falklands' exchanges between London and her government. President Barack Obama was not present during the Argentine leader's speech on Saturday.

 “This is a historic summit because for the first time Cuba is attending and participating. We consider it positive that President Obama has resumed dialogue, but Cuba is not here because of that. It's here because for over sixty years it fought with an unprecedented dignity”, said the Argentine leader at the beginning of her eight minute speech to the summit.

“We were glad about this news when suddenly a decree is signed declaring Venezuela a threat for US security. I must confess to my colleagues that when I heard the news I said 'it must be a mistake'. It wasn't an anti-imperialist reaction: at first I laughed because it is unbelievable that any country of our continent can pose a threat to the largest power in the world”, said ironically the president.

However on this point the Argentine president recalled the ongoing dispute with the UK over the Falkland Islands. “Nobody can believe that the UK has declared that Argentina remains a risk, a threat to the Malvinas Islands: it is utterly absurd. But ”I must also confess I was surprised at the similarity of stances: in my country we have suffered terrible dictatorships, but with them they (both) had cordial relations“.

In effect, “I listened to Obama, after signing the agreement with Iran, explaining his countrymen they should feel safe because the US was the most powerful country in the world,” said Cristina Fernandez. And ”here is the UK declaring my country a threat to its own territory, the Malvinas Islands: 2.3% of UK’s budget is allocated to defense. It is also absurd”

“I will not appeal to sovereignty. I will appeal to common sense. It is absolutely ridiculous considering any of us (regional countries) a threat.”

”It's a disappointment that this summit should be shadowed by this decision and we demand that the decree be set aside. I simply appeal to common sense. (General Juan Domingo) Perón said that you can go back to any place, but that which is ridiculous. And it is ridiculous to consider us a threat“.

In a jibe to the US president, Cristina Fernandez pointed out Obama said ”he doesn't care much about history, but I love it, this is my last summit and I also believe Obama's last, and this is historic because Cuba is attending“ and ”history teaches, not to remember, but to understand why things happened in the past“.

Cristina Fernandez then spoke about the 'soft' coups or attacks, designed to destabilize governments in the region, ”governments that have done the most for equality, for education and social inclusion”. For this “they always find their origin in NGOs that fight for freedom and human rights that we never know who finances them, but aim at the destabilization of governments in the region”.

“I believe in the words of those who say they want a fairer world but then why the governments in Latin America who have been those with major accomplishments in human rights, social inclusion, health, education are combated? They support governments with neoliberal policies that shattered people and combat governments that can show their credentials of having been the ones that have included their countrymen the most” renewing calls for “honesty.”

“Let’s not be afraid of history, of ideologies. On the contrary, take a look at what happened after they decreed the end of ideologies: fundamentalism appeared, one of the main problems the world has now... Because when someone says that he kills in the name of God it is more difficult to combat. Let’s not disown ideologies… Let’s learn from history, defend our ideas and acknowledge that we are facing a new world that demands a new theoretical framework to understand it.”

The Argentine president also addressed drug trafficking and called for 'honesty' from developed countries in order to acknowledge the “root” of the problems challenging nations in the region.

The battle against drug trafficking demands to address “the problem of financing”, with black money taken to “the banks and financial heavens” belonging to developed countries.

“Thousands and thousands of millions of dollars that are laundered there; if this problem is not addressed, there will be no solution to drug trafficking,” stated the Argentine president.

“We will hold 20 summits and emerging countries will still be left with the dead and the guns that are also produced by developed countries,” she added praising the “stubbornness” of Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos to lead the peace process in Colombia, a country that has been “territorially” fractured, ”with “thousands of victims, deaths and people displaced to neighboring nations”, concluded the Argentine leader.

Not surprisingly the Argentine president missed the first 'family' picture of the heads of state and government attending the Panama summit, because she arrived an hour late, and was replaced by foreign minister Hector Timerman. However she did manage to make the closing picture of the event when she shook hands with US president Obama.