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.

Cuban farmer Abelardo Silva currently heads a cooperative farm in the western province of Artemisa and is part of the Cuban delegation participating in one of the forums running parallel to the 7th Summit of the Americas, in Panama.

Silva said he is looking forwards to explaining about the achievements reached by Cuban farmers following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. He said that the women and men from the Cuban countryside will speak about the democratic and participatory role of cooperative members in the decision-making process on the island.

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.

Havana, Cuba - The members of the Cuban delegation to the forums that will run parallel to the 7th Summit of the America in Panama begin to leave for that Central American nation on Tuesday.

More than one hundred Cubans will participate in the forums of Civil Society, Youth, Rectors and Entrepreneurs, as well as in the Summit of the Peoples, which encompasses the real civil society of our continent, according to an article on Granma newspaper.

Washington - The new course of the U.S. policy towards Cuba will have its great first test when President Barack Obama participates in the Summit of the Americas in Panama, an article from The New York Times states today.

In that meeting, the statesman expects to stress his decision of ending more than 50 years of the U.S. isolation regarding the Caribbean island, states the text.

Artemisa, Cuba - The Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Salvador Valdés Mesa, visited economic centers in the province of Artemisa.

In the Basic Unit of Sugarcane Cooperative Production Corojal, expressed his satisfaction for have a center that for maintain the profitability in the last eight years has not abandoned its social mission.