By CIARAN GILES | Associated Press Writer

Leaders of the world's Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries demanded on Saturday that the United States abide by U.N. resolutions to end its "blockade" against Cuba, in a resolution that earlier drew criticism from the U.S. government.

The U.S. Embassy in Madrid objected to the use of the word "blockade" instead of "embargo" in the statement by the 17 leaders present at the annual Iberoamerican summit. Spanish officials countered that "blockade" had been used in U.N. resolutions as well.

GlobalPolitician.com | Dawne Hendrix

Fidel Castro is one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. When history books write about his leadership, he will in no doubt be cast as a villainous autocrat who isolated Cuba and its inhabitants from the rest of the world. His strangle hold on the power and position he fought for in the late forties and early fifties have oppressed the Cuban people’s right to travel freely out of Cuba, in addition to them not being able to express freely their discontent with Fidel’s government. However, when writing about Castro, historians and politicians cannot deny that Cuba, because of Fidel Castro, is a better place to live than before his reign.

By ­Jim Creskey | EmbassyMag.ca

Cuba's Foreign Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, on the U.S. embargo, Castro's succession, the OAS, Hugo Chavez and human rights.

"The blockade of Cuba," says Felipe Pérez Roque, Cuba's Foreign Minister, is the longest in history -- 45 years by 10 successive U.S. presidents. But, he admits, its end would pose a major challenge for Cuba and its leadership. Mr. Pérez, who was in Ottawa this week to meet with Canadian ministers Pierre Pettigrew, Jim Peterson and Aileen Carroll, spoke about the blockade and other hemispheric topics in an interview with Embassy.