Gómez is the head of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, a Cuban-American group that supports the Cuban revolution. The press conference was sponsored by the Brigade, the Alliance of Workers in the Cuban Community (ATC), Afro-Cuban Cultural Rescue, and the Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba. The Ibero-American summit was held in Cuba November 15–17.

Sixteen heads of state took part in the meeting. The presidents of five other countries that have participated in the annual meetings did not attend. The heads of state of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica said they were boycotting the meeting because of a "lack of democratic reform" in Cuba.

The sponsors of the press conference stated these governments "are trapped in a dishonorable neocolonial relationship with the United States."

They sent a letter to the ambassadors of the Ibero-American governments attending the summit, which read, "Despite the different ideologies between your government and the revolutionary government of Cuba, it is essential to show the world, and above all the government of the United States, the firm support of the Ibero-American countries to the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of other countries, especially in the case of Cuba, which during the last 40 years has been the last bastion of social justice and sovereignty among our peoples."

The first Ibero-American summit, held in Mexico in 1990, was the first time top officials from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal met together to discuss cultural, political, and economic issues without the direct involvement of Washington, which dominates other international forums in the Americas.

The declaration issued by the organizers of the press conference noted that from the beginning, "enemies of Cuba revolution, especially the United States, have sought to exclude Cuba" from the Ibero-American summit meetings. For nearly 40 years, since workers and farmers in Cuba took power, the U.S. rulers have sought to isolate the revolutionary government in Cuba politically, diplomatically, and economically by every means possible.

This year's conference, the first of the summits to be held in Havana, has been accompanied by a flurry of attacks and slanders against Cuba in the big-business press, including prominent coverage of meetings by some of the summit participants with opponents of the government in Cuba.

In responding to the boycott by the Costa Rican, Salvadoran, and Nicaraguan governments, Gómez mentioned the November 9 vote of the United Nations General Assembly on the U.S. embargo of Cuba. Governments of 155 countries voted for a Cuban-sponsored resolution calling for an end to the embargo. Only two, those of the United States and Israel, voted against the resolution.

Gómez also pointed to the trial that was about to open in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of seven men accused of attempting to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro at the seventh Ibero-American summit on the island of Margarita, Venezuela.

Four of the Cuban-American rightists attempted to sneak onto the island using the boat of a fifth defendant, who is a leader of the Cuban American National Foundation. They were armed with 50-caliber sniper rifles. One reportedly confessed that he planned to shoot at Castro's plane as it landed.

"We demand that they receive the maximum sentence established by law," said Gómez.

The presidents of Argentina and Chile also did not attend the Havana summit, saying they were protesting a Spanish court's attempt to try former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and several former members of the military juntas that ruled Argentina in 1976–83.

At the press conference here, Gómez objected to this violation of Chile's national sovereignty by Madrid. "We all know that Pinochet is a murderer but he has to be judged in Chile and not in Spain," explained Gómez. "Why haven't they brought the Francoists to justice, who killed thousands" during the 40-year rule of Francisco Franco in Spain.

Rollande Girard is a member of the International Association of Machinists in Miami. Michael Martínez is a high school student.  
 
 
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