Leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean signed a resolution declaring the region a "zone of peace" today, pledging to resolve their disputes as respectful neighbors without the use of arms.
The joint declaration came on the final day of a summit of Western Hemisphere nations minus the United States and Canada. The grouping, conceived as a vehicle for regional integration independent of Washington's influence, was born in 2011.
The 33 nations gathered in Havana committed to nonintervention in each other's internal affairs, to cultivate cooperation and friendship and to "respect the inalienable right of each state to choose its own political system," Cuban President Raul Castro said, reading from the text of the resolution.
Cuba is handing off the rotating presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, to Costa Rica, which will host the next summit.
Earlier in the day, Castro, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other leaders attended the formal inauguration of a museum dedicated to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of CELAC's staunchest proponents.
The two-room museum in a Spanish colonial fortress in Havana covers the history of Venezuela and of Chavez, who died of cancer last March.
Permanent exhibits show personal objects including a military uniform and shoes. Every month on the 28th the day of Chavez's birth a Communist youth group is to hold a public act in his honor.
Chavez was a close ally of Cuba and considered Fidel Castro a friend and mentor. Venezuela has supplied Cuba with billions of dollars in cut-rate oil in recent years.
