The defense ministers and other high representatives will deliberate on global issues and coordinate regional security actions and hemispheric cooperation on issues such as cyber defense and climate disasters, among others, in a scenario of growing tensions.
The Defense Ministers of some 30 American countries will meet within the framework of the XVI meeting of the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CMDA) that will be held in Argentina starting this Monday, October 14. The representatives of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua will not attend the meeting, according to the EFE agency.
The Defense Ministers and other high representatives will deliberate on global issues and coordinate regional security actions and hemispheric cooperation on issues such as cyber defense and climate disasters, among others, in a scenario of growing tensions.
The XVI meeting of the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CMDA), a group created in 1995, will be held until next Wednesday, October 16 in the Argentine city of Mendoza. The deliberations will begin with Luis Petri, Minister of Defense of Argentina – the country that presides over the CMDA – who will offer the opening speech of the meeting.
According to official sources informed EFE, the representatives of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were not invited to the meeting, despite the fact that these last two countries are part of the 34 nations of America that make up the CMDA.
This Sunday, the ministers and high representatives began to arrive in Argentina. It is planned that the event will elect the country that will occupy the Pro Tempore Secretariat of the CMDA for the 2025-2026 biennium and a ministerial declaration will be defined by consensus, a document whose draft has already been advanced in a preparatory meeting of the XVI CMDA held last June.
The hemispheric meeting is also preceded by a series of meetings of the different working groups created within the framework of the CMDA: one on cooperation in humanitarian assistance and relief by military forces in cases of natural or man-made disasters; another on women, peace and security; and a third on cyber defense and cyberspace.
Beyond the formal agenda of the CMDA, it is not excluded that other issues will emerge in the closed-door dialogue between the ministers and in the bilateral meetings that will take place these days in Mendoza, such as the fight against terrorism and organized crime. , the instability in Haiti or the situation in Venezuela.
Likewise, it is not ruled out that issues of global concern will be addressed, such as the war between Russia and Ukraine, the confrontations with Hamas and Hezbollah in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon by Israel and the latter’s growing tension with Iran. a complex scenario in which the different countries of America have adopted divergent positions.
Conflictive relationships
Relations between Venezuela and Argentina have been marked by disagreements between the Government of Javier Milei and the administration of Nicolás Maduro.
Among the most recent impasses is the arrest warrant requested by an Argentine court against Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello and other senior officials of the Venezuelan government for complaints that link them to crimes against humanity.
The Venezuelan government, through the Attorney General’s Office and the Supreme Court of Justiceresponded with a similar decision by requesting an arrest warrant against the Argentine president, his sister and another official in the case of the Emtrasur company plane.
Milei has had no qualms about describing Nicolás Maduro’s administration as a “bloody dictatorship”, as he did in his first speech before the UN general assembly, which began its 79th session this Tuesday, September 24. For its part, the Venezuelan government has called him “crazy” and “bandit.”
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