MEXICO CITY (AP) – Leaders of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held a summit in Mexico on Saturday, which criticized the OAS, requests that the United States change its relationship with the region and questions to the presence of the Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro that generated divisions among the attendees.
The VI Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States began with the surprise arrival of Maduro and the absence of Argentine President Alberto Fernández.
The blows of the political crisis facing Argentina were also evidenced in the meeting when the person Fernández had appointed to represent him, Felipe Solá, was dismissed as foreign minister in full flight to Mexico and the government’s spokesperson had to be assumed by the undersecretary for Latin America, Juan Valle.
Immediately, Valle faced the questions of the Nicaraguan foreign affairs minister, Denis Moncada, who openly rejected that the pro tempore presidency of the bloc be handed over to the South American country, considering that he interfered in the internal affairs of the Central American country.
Opening the meeting, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador demanded that the United States end the embargo policies and a “new and vigorous relationship between the peoples of America.”
“It seems to me that it is time to replace the policy of blockades and mistreatment with the option of respecting each other, walking together and associating ourselves for the good of America without violating sovereignty,” said López Obrador.
Addressing his counterpart Joe Biden, the host of the summit said that his US counterpart would win the support of the United States Congress if it allocates resources for the benefit of the peoples of the region to reduce inequality and the violence that he claimed are the causes of the migratory flows.
Plans to combat the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, economic difficulties and the defense of democracy and human rights dominated the agenda of debates as well as direct criticism of Maduro’s participation in the summit and the role of the Organization. of American States.
The re-election in 2018 of the Venezuelan leader was not recognized by the United States, the majority of Latin American countries and the European Union, which alleged that the voting process was carried out without meeting the minimum democratic standards.
“My presence at this summit in no sense or circumstance represents recognition of the government of Mr. Nicolás Maduro. There is no change in my government’s position, and I think it’s gentlemen to say it head-on, ”said Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez, looking at the Venezuelan president who was seated at one end of the room.
“There is no other way than democracy,” said Abdo Benítez. He added that respect for democracy is not only given at the polls but also in the exercise of power, without the manipulation of justice or the persecution of opponents.
Abdo Benítez’s proposals were joined by his Uruguayan counterpart, Luis Lacalle Pou, who directly questioned Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, noting that it was not possible to be complacent when there is no full democracy, separation of powers and the State apparatus is used to repress dissidents and imprison opponents.
In responding to the questions, Maduro affirmed that “we must turn the page of divisionism that was inserted in Latin America, of the harassment of the Bolivarian revolution and now of the incessant harassment of the Cuban revolution and the Nicaraguan revolution. That is not the way.” .
The South American president said, citing his mentor, the late Hugo Chávez, that “international politics must be at the service of international law, of the great interests of the community, of the region.”
Maduro asked all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean for support to continue with the dialogues that his government maintains with the Venezuelan opposition under the mediation of Norway, and invited his colleagues from CELAC to observe the November elections. for “that they see the` dictator` Maduro calling the 29th election ”.
“Venezuela is ready to debate democracy … with respect, without exclusions,” said the president and invited Abdo Benítez and Lacalle Pou to a debate on democracy.
The first to raise his voice against the OAS was the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, who affirmed that the organization “instead of acting under the mandates of the Democratic Charter, acts against the principles of democracy,” and argued that “Their growing interference in the affairs of the states does not contribute to the peaceful settlement of disputes.”
Arce urged the members of the bloc to strengthen CELAC to face the deficiencies of the OAS.
The Mexican undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, Maximiliano Reyes, ruled out that the reform of the OAS is on the agenda, but in statements to the local station W Radio assured the day before that if any member suggests it, Mexico – in its capacity as president pro tempore of the bloc— will propose the formation of a working group to “reflect” on the case.
López Obrador has spoken out in favor of a transformation of the OAS, while his Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard has been stronger and has even stated that it is time to say “goodbye to the OAS in its interventionist, interventionist and hegemonic sense and that another organization comes along that let’s build politically in agreement with the United States ”.
Since its creation in 2010, CELAC has promoted initiatives to try to reform the OAS, but none have been successful due to the lack of consensus among the 32 members of the bloc.
“CELAC is our path, that is why I propose that the constitution of a general secretariat of Latin American and Caribbean states be evaluated with a cold mind, with balance, and that we endow it with enough power to lead the construction” of a united community, proposed Maduro .
The presence of the Venezuelan president was surprising, who arrived in the Mexican capital on Friday night accompanied by his wife Cilia Flores and his son Nicolás Maduro Guerra after it had been announced that he would not come to the summit and that he would be represented by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez . After his re-election in 2018, the Venezuelan president reduced his tours abroad and only traveled to Russia in 2019.
Since the United States presented charges against Maduro and 13 other senior officials for drug trafficking and terrorism in March last year, and it was announced that cash would be offered in exchange for information that would lead to the arrest or conviction of the president and his relatives, including rewards of up to 15 million dollars, it is not known of any official exit.
Reyes, the Mexican undersecretary, said that the meeting would discuss the formalization of the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency to cover the lag in the region and advance the proposal to put in space a satellite that attends to meteorological phenomena and serves to make mobile communication cheaper and more efficient.
Also on the table was the creation of a coordination between the four countries that test vaccines against COVID-19 to have a vaccine in the region next year and reduce dependence on large laboratories and donations from other countries.
——-
The Associated Press in Panama journalist Juan Zamorano contributed to this report.