AFP/Havana

The meeting - which began with a moment of silence for the late leader - was hosted by Chavez’s closest ally, communist Cuba, in a major diplomatic coup for a country Washington has tried to isolate through a five-decade-old trade embargo.

Analysts said it sends a strong signal to the US that the region will no longer accept Cuba’s isolation - even if US policy is unlikely to change.

Castro, trading his usual general uniform for a dark blue suit, used his opening remarks in part to fiercely criticise the vast US phone and e-mail spying operation that has raised international consternation, especially among allies such as Mexico and Brazil - included among surveillance targets.

The secretive NSA programme, details of which were leaked by former US contractor Edward Snowden, “raises concerns about its potential to cause international conflicts,” Castro said, adding that the world needs to “prevent cyberspace from becoming a theater of military operations.”

And he suggested the US - referring obliquely to “the so-called ‘centres of power’” - was not ready to give up its “control of the rich region.”

The CELAC bloc of 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations was the culmination of an effort by Chavez to bring together both right-wing and leftist governments to counter the influence of the US.

The group will declare itself “diverse but united” today, when it signs a more than 80-point statement that also hints at distancing the region from the US, whose influence has been weakening in recent years.

The meeting in Cuba also allows leaders to make a statement about the region’s commitment to Havana.

“Today, Cuba is the capital of our America,” Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said as he arrived for the meeting. And Monday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff declared “Brazil wants to be a first-order economic ally to Cuba,” at a ceremony marking the opening of a major container port, partly funded by Brazil and a major outlet for an island nation excluded from US trade.

“The creation of a common political space is essential for our region,” said Castro, 82, in his opening remarks at a ceremony attended by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and heads of state from around the region.

Communist “Cuba has never had such a strong show of support from across the region,” said Arturo Lopez-Levy at the University of Denver. However, “the US is not going to change (its isolationist policy toward Cuba) just because a lot of regional leaders visit Havana,” stressed Patricio Navia, a New York University political scientist.

The summit’s “Havana Declaration” to be signed today touches on issues ranging from combatting poverty and illiteracy to disarmament. It urges agricultural development and food security, technological and scientific cooperation, and affirms a “zone of peace” for the 600mn people across the region.