The veto of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua will prevent the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, from attending the summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-Celac), which will be held in Brussels on 17 and 18 July. According to the Argentine media infobaea senior European official announced that the three countries, whose alliance with Moscow has been strengthened in recent months, blocked the invitation suggested by the head of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez.
“President Zelenski is not going to attend,” settled the senior official, who hopes that the “collateral damage in other parts of the world from the aggression” will be discussed at the EU-Celac meeting – which has not been in session for eight years Russia, which has caused damage and fragilities, which has created food insecurity and increased inflation”.
“All this will probably be discussed,” added the official, who clarified that “there was already an opportunity to discuss the war and the position towards Moscow at the EU meeting in Copenhagen, where Russian special representatives participated with an ‘active participation in the discussion'”.
Europe hopes that Latin America and the Caribbean will talk “on how to put an end to this aggression”, and that means accepting the conditions of the participants
Now, however, Europe wants Latin America and the Caribbean to talk “on how to put an end to this aggression,” and that means accepting the conditions of countries like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, such as the absence of Ukraine which, it claimed, does not form part of the EU or Celac.
Although Zelenski himself assured that Pedro Sánchez, head of the Government of Spain –the country that presides over the EU until December– had invited him to the summit, infobae He claims to have had access to anonymous statements by a Brussels spokesman who says that the Ukrainian president never had a formal request for assistance.
In a brief press conference, he points out infobaeZelenski had denounced that several “regional presidents and dictators had cut short their trip”, although he did not clarify which governments had opposed it.
The president, who leads his country’s resistance against Vladimir Putin’s invasion that began in February 2022, was able to attend the recent NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, although Kiev’s entry into this body did not materialize. .
The suggestion by Celac to invite Zelenski to the summit was also made months ago by the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou. At that time, the government of Argentine Alberto Fernández – then president of the Latin American organization – was ambiguous on the issue but made it clear that the decision to allow Ukraine’s presence at the summit should be a prerogative of Celac.
The suggestion by Celac to invite Zelenski to the summit was also made months ago by the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou
Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are fully aligned with Russia. The reception of diplomats, the commercial exchange -particularly in the oil field- and the constant movement of senior officials from these countries through Moscow have turned the governments of Miguel Díaz-Canel, Nicolás Maduro and Daniel Ortega into unconditional supporters of Putin and points key to Russia’s strategy in the region.
In the case of Cuba, the link has been produced at the highest level and both regimes have staged a rapprochement unprecedented since Soviet times. The island’s taking sides in the international arena has clearly positioned it in favor of Russia, while the version of the conflict in Ukraine in the official Cuban press follows the dictates of the Kremlin.
Díaz-Canel, who is currently on a state trip to Portugal where it is proposed to negotiate the hiring of 300 doctors, will attend the EU-Celac summit after the plenary session of the European Parliament approved a resolution on Wednesday for the Island’s Government to end “the policy of repression, intensified in recent time”. In addition, it demanded the “immediate and unconditional release of all those detained solely for the exercise of their human rights, the withdrawal of abusive criminal charges, and that exiles be allowed to return.”
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