by Alejandra del Palacio

    CARACAS, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The 7th Presidential Summit of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) concluded on Friday with rejection of the declaration of the Summit of the Americas.

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez read a 15-point statement, blaming capitalism for creating the current global economic crisis and criticizing U.S. imperialist policy on Latin America.

    Before the Summit of the Americas, scheduled for April 17-19 in Trinidad and Tobago, leaders from Nicaragua, Cuba, Bolivia, Honduras, Venezuela and Dominican Republic formed a common position towards the summit during their meeting in Cumana, capital of Venezuela's Sucre state.

    AN ANNOUNCED VETO

    ALBA on Friday rejected the Declaration of the Summit of Americas because it considered the declaration fails to give an effective answer to the world economic crisis and reach a regional consensus on demanding an end of the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

    "It is unacceptable to apply coercive and unilateral measures which affect people, as well as measures against the international law," ALBA said in the statement. It also demanded the United States fulfill the UN resolution on ending the economic embargo against Cuba which started half a century ago.

    "We contend there's no consensus for adopting that draft statement and we propose an exhaustive debate," Chavez said.

    Or as Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega put it, "You can not call that summit 'of the Americas' because Cuba and Puerto Rico are missing."

    Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Thursday that it would be important to "prepare for our battle at the Summit of the Americas for the United States to change its policies."

    Obama "has a moral and ethical obligation to repair the damage caused by his country's former presidents," he added.

    The ALBA is a regional organization founded in 2004 under the initiative of Venezuela and Cuba to counter the U.S.-led Free Trade Area of the Americas

    It comprises Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

    U.S. POSITION

    The Obama administration dismissed the veto to the declaration of the Fifth Summit of the Americas as irresponsible and misplaced.

    "The declaration of the summit is a document, a fairly lengthy document that's been negotiated for the last nine months by all 34countries, including Venezuela," Jeffrey Davidow, adviser to Barack Obama on the summit, said in Mexico City where he accompanied the U.S president for a one-day visit on Thursday.

    "It's been a laborious process of negotiation. Many of Venezuela's points were accepted, as were the points of the United States and other countries. This decision to not sign the document is something that just came up in the last day or so, and is inconsistent with the negotiations that have been going on for almost a year," Davidow said.

    "It makes no mention of the policies of any specific country. It's not a list of the pros and cons about what the United States does or what Venezuela does or what any of the countries do," he added.

    Many Latin American newspapers on Thursday carried an editorial written by Obama, in which he tried to shift the agenda of the summit to topics other than Cuba.

    "The US-Cuba relationship is one example of a debate in the Americas that is too often dragged back to the 20th century," the editorial said.

    The summit was reserved for "democratic" nations and "we expect all of our friends in the hemisphere to join together in supporting liberty, equality and human rights for all Cubans," it added.