Venezuela

Pot Bangers Protest as Nicolas Maduro Arrives at Summit of the Americas

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was greeted with a din of banging pots as he arrived for the start of the Summit of the Americas.

Maduro made his official entry into the Summit flashing a smile and peace sign to cameras.

NBC 6 reporter Julia Bagg was able to ask him in Spanish if he had anything to say to the United States.

"How are you," he answered in English.

The Panama City neighborhood surrounding the Atlapa Convention Center where the summit kicked off Friday night is popular with wealthy Venezuelans who have immigrated to Panama during the past 15 years of socialist rule.

Banging pots is a popular form of protest in Latin America. Residents in adjacent high-rises also toggled their apartment lights on and off as Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores were shown on television walking onto the red carpet to the waiting host, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela.

Within an hour, President Barack Obama took his turn down the red carpet. He stressed the western hemisphere's need for better labor training.

"The economy is changing and workers are going to have to adapt," Obama said. "It's going to be very rare that somebody works at the same place for 30 years with just one skill."

Obama later took his place with leaders of the other 34 countries, including Cuba's Raul Castro. The two sat in the same row.

Earlier in the day Maduro was cheered by hundreds of residents in a poor neighborhood that suffered heavy losses during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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