Canada and the United States are finding themselves at odds with Latin American countries on two thorny issues — the war on drugs and the exclusion of Cuba — at a summit of hemispheric leaders in Colombia.
Trying to keep Cuba out of the Summit of the Americas. When everybody knows that the cruel Yankee embargo has caused the wonderful Cuban people all kinds of misery.
I was really happy to see that the Summit of the Americas has ended on an optimistic note.
And that an American President has admitted that fifty years of economic warfare against Cuba has gone nowhere.
In a news conference at the close of the summit, Mr Obama conceded that decades of US policy on Cuba "hasn't worked the way we wanted it too".
Because I love Cuba and its people, and I know how much they've suffered because of the cruel U.S. embargo.
And I admire how despite that suffering they have managed to feed and educate their children better than any other country in Latin America. Which for me is the true measure of civilization.
But what I liked the most about this summit was the way the indigenous people of South America have finally found their voice.
And that after centuries of oppression, the mighty have been forced to listen to what these poorest and most humble of people have to say.
Which lifted my heart, and for some reason reminded me of this cute little video.
You can oppress a humble people for centuries. You can steal their land. You can kill them or starve them to death.
But you can never kill their spirit.
My beautiful America, from Tuktuyaaqtuuq to Patagonia...
