Summit no-shows

MADRID (Reuter) - The Cuban President, Fidel Castro, described the United States as an 'empire trying to govern the planet' when he addressed a summit of Iberian and Latin American leaders. Three presidents were kept at home by political troubles. The Venezuelan Senate barred Carlos Andres Perez, who survived a coup attempt in February, from leaving the country; Alberto Fujimori, who shut down the Peruvian Congress in April, faced increased violence from Sendero Luminoso guerrillas, and Colombia's Cesar Gaviria stayed at home after the drug trafficker Pablo Escobar escaped from prison.