Four states won't sign Summit of the Americas declaration

The Fifth Summit of the Americas closes in Port of Spain Sunday with at least four of the 34 leaders pledging not to sign the summit declaration.

Among the strongest critics of the draft declaration are Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, and Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

The four countries are members of the Bolivarian Alternative for the People of Our America (ALBA), an international cooperation organization proposed by Chavez in 2004 as an alternative to the U.S.-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

They have said the draft declaration does not address the necessary measures to deal with the effects of the global financial crisis on the developing countries in the Americas. And they blame the United States for creating the crisis.

Read the draft summit declaration

The declaration, which was written over a tedious 18 months of negotiations, was finalized before the full effects of the crisis became known in the fall of 2008. The draft focuses on promoting human prosperity, energy security, environmental sustainability, public security and democratic governance.

Morales told reporters in Port of Spain he has serious issues with the text. "If the issue of biofuel is not reviewed, the government of Bolivia will not sign this document. Introducing biofuel policies means to privilege the machines over human life. What will we pick, human life or U.S. machines?"

Critics of sugar cane ethanol, the most common type of biofuel, argue the expansion of crops of sugar cane to produce the fuel will reduce the land available for food production.

Cuba is another issue that remains highly contentious. Chavez has insisted that Cuba cannot continue to remain a pariah when it is an integral part of the community. He served notice late last week before heading to Trinidad that he would refuse to put his signature on the declaration as a protest against the United States.

Washington is giving Cuba an opportunity to earn membership by addressing its human record and by working toward democratic reform. At the opening of the summit Friday U.S. President Barack Obama spoke of "a new beginning" for Cuba, noting that America has already relaxed many restrictions on the communist state.

Related story: Obama pledges new beginning with Cuba

Canada, the other heavyweight in the grouping, has said the next moves are up to Cuba. Ottawa has never had sanctions against Cuba and has maintained a healthy political and economic relationship with the island while the U.S. kept up its isolation through a rigid trade embargo.

Summit host, Prime Minister Patrick Manning is expected to give "recognition" to Cuba when he closes the summit acknowledging the country as a "family member" of the Caribbean-Latin America region.

He would be expressing what his officials say is the strongly sentiments of the "great majority" of summit participants for an end to the U.S. embargo and Cuba's readmission to the Organization of American States (OAS). Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 and has no great love for the organization, which is dominated by Washington.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is expected to release its own separate statement on the summit that will reflect some of the "encouraging signals" received from bilateral meetings held, particularly with Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.