The government of Argentina organize a meeting of Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) which will take place simultaneously with the IX Summit of the Americas, to be held in June in the US city of Los Angeles.
According to the Télam agency, which cites official sources, representatives from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua could participate in the meeting, nations so far excluded by the Biden Administration from the continental meeting that will take place from 6 to 10 next month.
“The event will take place in parallel, without opposing schedules, and the spirit is to stay united as a block,” says Télam, who in turn is quoted by the agency Latin Press (PL).
The official reference sources commented that the holding of this meeting —organized by Argentina in its capacity as president pro tempore from CELAC—was approached during a recent meeting between the Argentine foreign minister, Santiago Cafiero, and his Mexican counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, adds the report.
According to the agency, the organizers “analyze the means to hold the CELAC meeting in the absence of presidents Miguel Díaz-Canel (Cuba), Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela) and Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua)” at the Summit. of the Angels.
Cuba advocates a CELAC that defends regional interests “with one voice”
refers PL that among the valued alternatives “are the use of digital platforms and the presence at the event of envoys from those nations to the debates on health at the Summit of the Americas, where delegations from the entire continent are expected to participate.”
The office also indicates that, during a meeting with an adviser to the US government at the Casa Rosada, the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, confirmed his disagreement with Washington’s intentions to prevent the participation of those countries in the Summit of the Americas, and with the economic sanctions of the White House that weigh on Cuba and Venezuela.
Fernandez, point PLhas not yet confirmed his trip to Los Angeles, but assured that “Argentina will work for the success of a summit with everyone included.”
The Argentine government is one of those that has criticized the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the regional event, a position also maintained by nations such as Mexico, Bolivia, Honduras, Chile and the Caribbean community. Leaders such as the Mexican López Obrador and the Bolivian Arce have assured that they will not attend the event if all the countries of the continent are invited.
In this sense, it was also stated Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA)which during a meeting this Friday in Havana rejected the “arbitrary, ideological and politically motivated exclusion” of these nations from the Los Angeles meeting, and he rated it as “a serious historical setback in hemispheric relations that offends the Latin American and Caribbean peoples.”
Less than two weeks before the meeting, the US has not yet published the final list of participants, but has confirmed that it will not include Venezuela or Nicaragua. Nor has he clarified what he will finally do with Cuba, although Díaz-Canel has assured that “in no case” would he attend the meeting.
