Musa addresses summit: hits globalization, Guatemala

As far as the United States is concerned the big news involving Cuba this week is the tug of war over 6 year old Elian Gonzalez. But for the rest of the world the South Summit now being held in Havana is a story of more lasting significance. At this evening’s session our own Prime Minister Said Musa, one of nearly 40 heads of government in attendance, addressed the gathering. Although it was in many ways a case of preaching to the choir, Musa minced no words in criticizing the growing gap between the world’s rich and poor. He described the negative effects of globalization; a process which he said in practice favours the interests of the advanced industrialized nations over those of the less developed. To solve these problems Musa called on the developing nations to unite and cooperate. The first place to do that was in regional groupings. He described Belize as a member of two subregions: CARICOM and Central America–and announced his intention to participate fully in both. But at this point the Prime Minister sounded a note of caution: that not all was well on the mainland. “The last few years” he said “have seen the unbelievable resurgence of anachronistic territorial claims in Central America that should have been buried in the 19th century and that have no place in a 21st century of South-South cooperation and regional solidarity. These are unnecessary and harmful distractions from our common need to work together, not against each other, to confront the challenges of globalization.” Prime Minster Musa is expected to return to Belize on Saturday.