Havana, Cuba - Army General Raul Castro, President of the Cuban councils of State and Ministers, attended on Friday night the inaugural ceremony of the 7th Summit of the Americas, held at the ATLAPA Convention Center of Panama City.

Cuba is present for the first time in these meetings of hemispheric nature since its first edition in Miami, Florida, in December, 1994, due to the persistent demand of Latin American and Caribbean countries and its process of integration.

Panama - Some ten members of the Cuban Delegation to the Social Forum at the 7th Summit of the Americas are still lacking credentials on the second day of sessions to the meeting.

As Prensa Latina verified, organizers of the meeting gave out "provisional" accreditations to a group of the 28 Cuban representatives that yesterday lacked that essential document to participate in the event's sessions.

There are people who build walls with their physical limitations, and close themselves in their own world; others recover difficulties like hurdles that need to be left behind in life’s race . The singular farmer Orlando Hernández Escalona, belongs to the second group of persons .

Orlando lost his sight six years ago; however, his desire to move forward and work remain intact. At 53 years old, Orlando feels he has not done enough and receives the morning with his country clothes, ready for plowing. The lack of sight is not an impediment for him.

Panama - There was a bad beginning of the collateral events at the 8th Summit of the Americas, when the Cuban and Venezuelan delegations withdrew from the hall after denouncing the presence of "terrorists and mercenaries" at the Forum of Civil Society.

"The Cuban delegation will not share the same room with mercenaries and terrorists. Once again, we demand that they be expelled from the event because they do not represent the dignified Cuban people," says a communiqué from Cuba's civil society.

Havana - General of the Army Raul Castro Ruz, President of the Council of State of Cuba, arrived in Panama City, where he will take part at the 7th Summit of the Americas, scheduled to be held April 10th-11th  at the Atlapa convention center.

The Cuban delegation is made up by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla and Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Foreign Trade and Investment, respectively. Other members of this delegation are deputy ministers Rogelio Sierra Díaz and Ana Teresita González Fraga as well as Antonio Miguel Pardo Sánchez, the Ambassador of Cuba stationed in this central country and other diplomats.

Havana, Cuba - During a ceremony held Wednesday in support of Venezuela, in Havana, Cuban first vice-president Miguel Diaz Canel recalled that the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States includes a two-stage and complex process.

First is the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, which requires the withdrawal of Cuba from the US list of countries sponsors of international terrorism and solving the financial situation of the Cuban missions in US territory, said Diaz-Canel.