Latin American Summit dominated by Castro

formerly LAM 2230 CUBA EL SALVADOR ACCUSATIONS Leaders from Spain, Portugal and twenty-one countries in Latin America have ended their two-day summit in Panama.

The meeting had been designed to strengthen regional ties, and to combat child poverty -- and the leaders did issue a final document outlining their commitment to improve young people's lives.

But the meeting was overshadowed by controversy surrounding the Cuban president, Fidel Castro.

On Friday he denounced an alleged plan to assassinate him, and on Saturday refused to sign a condemnation of the armed Basque separatist movement ETA. He had a heated exchange with President Francisco Flores of El Salvador, whom he accused of protecting a Cuban exile who attempted to assassinate him.

Mr Flores responded by blaming President Castro for the deaths of many Salvadorans, by training revolutionaries during El Salvador's civil war.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service