Maduro becomes talk of summit

Maduro becomes talk of summit _ by not showing up

Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski attends the opening ceremony of the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

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Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez, left, listens to a member of her delegation during the opening ceremony of the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

Heads of state and representatives from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula attend the opening ceremony of the 25th Ibero-American Summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

A meeting of Ibero-American leaders held amid a deepening political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela turned into a guessing game over whether the neighboring nation's president would show.

Reporters even trooped to the airport in Colombia's Caribbean city of Cartagena to await Nicolas Maduro.

His attendance had been expected after Peru's president laid down a gauntlet of sorts. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said he would seek consensus for Venezuela's suspension from the Organization of American States for violating its democratic charter.

Maduro's government has been widely condemned for blocking the opposition's democratic attempt to oust him with a recall election.

Kuczynski said Saturday that it's very difficult for leaders to meet and not discuss the region's most burning issues. Venezuela is suffering severe food and medicine shortages and acute criminal violence.

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