Bolivian President, Luis Arce will travel to Buenos Aires on Monday afternoon to participate in the VII Summit of Heads of State of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), which after two years will have the presence of Brazil, announced the Vice Minister of Communication, Gabriela Alcón.
“On Monday the 23rd, in the afternoon, after the ‘Cultural Festival of Plurinationality’, organized by the Ministry of Culture, the Head of State will travel to Argentina to participate in the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, which will be held on January 24 in Buenos Aires,” Alcón specified in statements to the press reproduced by the Bolivian Information Agency (ABI).
Celac, created in 2010, is an intergovernmental mechanism for dialogue and political agreement. Its membership includes the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and it arose with the commitment to advance in the gradual process of integration of the region, making a wise balance between unity and the political, economic, social and cultural diversity of the countries. more than 600 million inhabitants of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Lula confirmed his decision to reincorporate Brazil into Celac with President Arce during the meeting that both held on January 2
To date, six summits have been held: in Chile (2013), Cuba (2014), Costa Rica (2015), Ecuador (2016), the Dominican Republic (2017) and Mexico (2021).
Brazil did not participate in the last summit because a year earlier, on January 16, 2020, the government of far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro announced the withdrawal of his country from CELAC on the grounds that it “gave prominence to non-democratic regimes.”
Under the same argument, earlier, in April 2019, the former president made Brazil’s departure from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) official.
Instead, it integrated Brazil into the Forum for the Progress of South America (Prosur), founded in March 2019 in Chile. by right-wing governments and which excludes Venezuela by decision of the conservative governments of the eight member countries.
Nevertheless, the return of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency of Brazil also resulted in the reincorporation of this nation into the integration bloc.
Lula confirmed his decision to reincorporate Brazil into Celac with President Arce during the meeting that the two held on January 2, one day after beginning his third presidential term.
“We salute the decision of brother President Lula da Silva to reincorporate Brazil into Celac. Today more than ever, regional integration must be our main strength to face global challenges,” Arce wrote on his social networks on January 7.
Lula’s decision materialized on January 12, when the Brazilian ambassador to Argentina, Reinaldo José de Almeida Salgado, handed the Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero the formal letter by which Brazil formalized its return to Celac.
Lula will begin his visit to Argentina on Monday, January 23, with an agenda that includes a bilateral meeting, at the Casa Rosada, with President Alberto Fernández
With this, Celac once again has the plenary session of the countries of the region and the postcard on January 24 will ratify it.
Like Arce, the President of Brazil will begin his visit to Argentina on Monday, January 23, with an agenda that includes a bilateral meeting, at the Casa Rosada, with President Alberto Fernández, and the following day a participation in the Summit from Celac.
The VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of Celac will be held at the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel.
Unlike previous summits, this time the US President’s envoy, Joe Biden, will participate: Christopher Dodd, special presidential advisor for the Americas.
According to Vice Minister Alcón, the head of state will speak in the Celac plenary session on January 24, a day later he will return to the country.
