López Obrador in Belize urges a union of America as in Europe

From the Editorial Office

Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday May 8, 2022, p. 3

From Belize, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reiterated his proposal to advance continental integration, because only through a united, integrated, twinned America, will we be able to face the turbulence of the world economy and, most importantly, the geopolitical danger that the economic decline of the United States represents for the whole world compared to other regions, especially from Asia.

In particular, he said, I am referring to the commercial economic progress, which can be even hegemonic, of China.

During a joint message with the Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, López Obrador stressed that in addition to stopping undesirable eventsthe project of integration of all the countries of the Americas would allow the strengthening of a great common market, not only to appear as a prosperous region, but also to give welfare and justice to our populations.

At the end of his visit to Belize, the President explained that his proposal for the integration of the American continent is similar to the model of the European Economic Community, the instance that preceded the European Union (EU), and will also make it possible face together complex common problems such as poverty, insecurity and crime, the consequent migratory waves, care for the environment, energy supply and even prepare to act together in catastrophes caused by natural phenomena.

A project of these dimensions, he said, it requires high-mindedness to leave behind obsolete ideological phobias, regarding the sovereign decisions of each country and, above all, a genuine commitment to our populations and the satisfaction of their most pressing needs.

So, I have been insisting on the need for no government in the hemisphere, no country in the Americas to be excluded from the next Summit of the Americas, to be held in Los Angeles, in the United States. That no one excludes anyone, it must be a meeting that precisely allows dissent to be seen without impositions or unilateral measures, without hegemonies or arrogance.

In his speech, he also highlighted the history of the good neighborly relationship between Mexico and Belize, which has been maintained through a harmonious and peaceful course, on the basis of equity, mutual respect and negotiation to resolve the problems that inevitably arise between bordering countries.

That good neighborliness, he pointed out, could serve as an example to channel in a peaceful and mutually beneficial way some conflictive bilateral relations in other latitudes.

Here we are showing that, regardless of the government systems, there is the will to work in favor of our peoples and recalled that Mexico renounced territorial rights over what was then British Honduras, which it could have inherited from New Spain.

Moreover, in 1980, it was a promoter in the UN, along with 38 other States, of the draft resolution on the independence of Belize and was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the new nation.

The President of Mexico congratulated Prime Minister Juan Antonio Briceño, better known as John Briceño, for the historic decision to regularize 40,000 Central American migrants who work honestly in Belize. It is an example of universal brotherhood, of a country with little territorial extension, with less than 500 thousand inhabitants.

For his part, Prime Minister Briceño recognized that today more than ever it is important that Belizeans, whose language is English, learn Spanish, because the future of Belize it is with Central America and with Mexico.

He also referred to the brotherhood between both nations, spoke part of his speech in Spanish and thanked the support that Mexico provides through social programs to combat poverty, which is one of the most important challenges facing Belize, taking into account that this problem grew 60 percent, mainly because of the pandemic.

He greeted the Governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquín González, a member of the delegation, and told him that Belizeans no longer have to go to Miami, because they can do their shopping in Chetumal.