The Ibero-Latin American summit ends Sunday

OPORTO, Portugal (CNN) -- Leaders of Spain, Portugal and 19 Latin American countries are urging the world's wealthiest nations to take immediate action to combat the worldwide financial crisis now menacing Latin America.

At the conclusion of the annual Ibero-American Summit in Oporto on Sunday, the leaders issued a communiqué in which they warned that the Latin economies are the last line of defense against "a grave global recession."

They outlined "urgent measures" to restore stability to financial markets, including further interest rate cuts by the United States and European countries and swifter action by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, particularly in Brazil, which has been waiting on a $30 billion IMF rescue package.

"It's time to see how we can stop and overcome this crisis," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

While the pressing economic crisis was at the top of the summit's agenda, the event was overshadowed by the arrest in Britain of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, whom Spanish authorities want to charge with the murder of Spanish citizens during his authoritarian rule.

Publicly, leaders at the summit made no comment on the arrest, not wanting to embarrass current Chilean President Eduardo Frei, who has strongly objected to Pinochet's detention as an affront to Chile's sovereignty.

Privately, though, some summit participants applauded the news that the former military ruler could face the bar of justice.

Presidents Fujimori of Peru, left, and Mahuad of Ecuador

In a breakthrough produced at the summit, the presidents of Peru and Ecuador agreed to allow a commission of neutral countries to settle once and for all a dispute over their common border, which has led to sporadic fighting between the two neighbors for more than half a century.

Ibero-American leaders also condemned the U.S. economic embargo against communist Cuba, whose president, Fidel Castro, was a summit participant.

Next year's summit is scheduled to be held in Havana, which led to a minor flap in Oporto after Nicaragua's president announced that he wouldn't attend the summit because Cuba isn't a democracy.

"In that case, you'll have to look for a more democratic country on another planet," replied Castro.

Correspondent Lucia Newman and Reuters contributed to this report.