President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will participate in the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and the European Union (EU), next Sunday (9), in Santa Marta, Colombia. For him, it will be the appropriate environment to discuss the United States’ military movement in the Caribbean region and on the coast of Venezuela.
This Tuesday (4), in an interview with international agencies in Belém (PA), Lula said that he spoke with the American president, Donald Trump, about the subject at the meeting they had in Malaysia, in October. On that occasion, Lula made himself available to act as interlocutor between the United States and Venezuela.
“The Celac meeting only makes sense, at this moment, if we are going to discuss this issue of American warships here in the seas of Latin America. I had the opportunity to talk to President Trump about this subject, telling him that Latin America is a zone of peace”, said Lula.
“We are a zone of peace, we don’t need war here. The problem that exists in Venezuela is a political problem that must be resolved in politics”, added Lula.
The Celac-EU summit takes place at a time of tension in the Caribbean, where the United States has sent ground troops, submarines and military ships. President Donald Trump’s government bombed vessels in the region, under the justification of combating drug trafficking routes that supply the North American country.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, argues that there are interests in the country’s oil reserves and that military reinforcement in the region aims to remove him from power.
The Celac-EU summit will bring together leaders from the 27 European Union countries and the 33 Celac nations, with a focus on resuming bi-regional dialogue and negotiations on the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. The meeting continues until Monday (10), but Lula only participates in the first day and returns to Belém for the opening of the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30).
The president has been in Pará since last Saturday (1st), where inaugurated works in the capital and visited indigenous villages and traditional communities in the interior of the state. This Thursday (6) and Friday (7), Lula will preside over the COP30 leaders’ summit in Belém, an event that precedes the main conference.
Official negotiations between delegates from signatory countries to the United Nations climate treaty will take place after the summit, from 10 to 21 November. On the agenda are topics such as climate financing, energy transition, adaptation and biodiversity preservation.
