海角大神

鈥� A version of this post ran on the author's blog,. The views expressed are the author's own.

This weekend鈥檚 Summit of the Americas may not include representation from听Cuba, but Cuba is by no means absent from the summit.

Leading up to the meeting, general policy toward the island appeared to be the most significant issue dividing the Hemisphere: Latin American nations saw Cuba鈥檚 continued exclusion from the summit as counterproductive, while the United States insisted that as long as Cuba continued to fail to meet the democratic requirements of the Organization of American States, its leaders could not be involved in any of the organization鈥檚 events (including the Summit of the Americas). With diplomatic aplomb, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos solved the issue by听proposing to make Cuba鈥檚 future participation a topic for discussion at the Summit.

So Ra煤l Castro is not in Cartagena, but the nations of the Hemisphere are discussing whether he could be invited in the future. And the leaders of the countries of ALBA that were threatening not to show up to the summit actually agreed to attend following this resolution (all except Rafael Correa of Ecuador). The way is paved for the United States to maintain its opposition respectfully, while stepping aside to allow future policy to be determined by the apparent consensus of most all other countries in the Hemisphere.

Is that what will happen? Not yet, certainly. The meeting of foreign ministers that considered a proposal to invite Cuba to future summits ended after .

But the conversation did not end there, and it appears to be coming to a head, as听ALBA countries have drawn the line on excluding Cuba. Bolivia鈥檚 Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca, has stated: 鈥淭his is the last Summit of the Americas unless Cuba is allowed to take part.鈥� The foreign ministers of Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay have all declined to sign the summit鈥檚 final declaration unless the United States and Canada remove their veto of future Cuban participation. And the most moderate, conservative Latin American nations are taking a stand as well. President Santos of Colombia and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil have both agreed that there should be no more Americas summits without Cuba included.听President Santos with a critique of Cuba鈥檚 absence, saying that the exclusion was an anachronism of the cold war. He is a well-respected leader, and a strong ally, of course, of the United States.

Will the United States and Canada test the resolve of all of these leaders and maintain their veto? Or will they take advantage of this opportunity to step aside and accede to the majority consensus in a Hemisphere demanding exactly this kind of signal from its northern partners?

As , media tend to sweep over the progress made at these kinds of summits in favor of focusing on the 鈥渇lashier鈥� controversies. He鈥檚 right: there are a wide range of issues upon which the nations of the Hemisphere are finding means to cooperate during these meetings, under the theme of 鈥淐onnecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity鈥� 鈥� from expanding access to information and communication technology for development to bolstering middle class populations. It would certainly be a shame to overshadow all of that by remaining stubborn on the Cuba issue.

--- Melissa Lockhart Fortner is Senior Programs Officer at the Pacific Council on International Policy and Cuba blogger at the Foreign Policy Association. You can read her blog here: