CELAC Summit in Mexico was not without tensions

Presidents dissatisfied with Maduro's attendance at CELAC 6:55

(CNN) -

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) met on Saturday in Mexico City, where 17 leaders of member countries joined Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to discuss the covid-19 pandemic , equitable access to vaccines, joint actions in the last two years, and climate change, according to the summit that was broadcast live.

The leaders arrived in the country on Friday morning, where the Mexican Foreign Ministry held multiple bilateral meetings.

As part of the expected agreements, CELAC launched the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE) with countries in the region and created a disaster fund for Latin America, given the impacts of climate change.

• AMLO believes that CELAC can help create economic integration with the US and Canada

“Due to the delay in the funds that developed countries offered us some time ago, we have already created one - the fund - and I want to inform you that today, although it seems a modest sum, in the last hours we have raised more than US $ 15 million to put the fund for disasters and the effects of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean is underway ”, affirmed the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard.

"It means that Latin America and the Caribbean will never again have the same situation that we lived in 2020 and 2021," Ebrard added during the summit.

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A plan was also approved for the region to have vaccines, equipment and tests presented by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena.

AMLO asks the US to end the blockade in Cuba 3:23

During his speech, the president of Mexico, López Obrador, said that CELAC could become an instrument to consolidate relations between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

"CELAC in these times can become the main instrument to consolidate relations between our countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and achieve the ideal of economic integration with the United States and Canada within a framework of respect for our sovereignties," he said. López Obrador.

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"It is time to end the lethargy and propose a new and vigorous relationship between the peoples of America, it seems to me that it is time to replace the policy of blockades and mistreatment with the option of respecting each other, walking together and associating ourselves for the good of America without violating our sovereignty, "added Obrador.

López Obrador proposed creating a body similar to the European Union in the American continent.

During the summit, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked the Mexican president for calling on the United States to end the blockade.

He also reiterated his support for the "commitment of Venezuela, Argentina, Haiti and Cuba to seek peace in Colombia."

The summit was full of fissures between governments

The president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, said: "My presence at this summit in no sense and circumstance represents recognition of the government of Mr. Nicolás Maduro, there is no change in the position of my government and I think it is gentlemen to say it head on. ".

Maduro responded by saying: "I tell the president of Paraguay, put the date, place and time for a debate on democracy in Paraguay, Venezuela and in Latin America, and we are ready to give it."

The questioned president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who was not on the list to attend the summit, arrived in Mexico City late on Friday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Twitter and addressed the need to establish an organ strongest government in the region.

• Nicolás Maduro announces changes in the cabinet of ministers of Venezuela

“I propose that the constitution of a General Secretariat of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States be evaluated with a cold mind, with balance, and that we endow it with enough power so that that General Secretariat takes the reins of building the dream that some of you have said. .

Some of you dream of the EU, excellent, but there are also good experiences in the African Union, "said Maduro.

The President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, stated during the summit: “We must say with concern that we see seriously what is happening in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.” At the end of the speeches, the Cuban Díaz-Canel responded by saying: “The mention to Cuba that Lacalle did denotes his ignorance of reality.

The courage and freedom of the Cuban people have been demonstrated for six decades in the face of aggression and the blockade of the United States. "

Presidents dissatisfied with Maduro's attendance at CELAC 6:55

Climate change was vigorously addressed

The president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, announced that he will propose to the members of the United Nations to declare Central America as a "highly vulnerable region."

“We are about to propose within the framework of the UN during the summit next week a declaration of the countries to the countries that make up the UN to declare Central America as a highly vulnerable region and that we can, through that recognition, reduce the impact of the losses and damages that natural disasters impose each year and that the reconstruction processes that hinder investment in human development and the need to have agile and quality climate financing reoccur ”, highlighted Giammattei.

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"Every year we build the same bridges, every year we rebuild the same roads, every year we have to suffer the onslaught of climate change, the Central American region being one of the regions that produces the least greenhouse gases, but it does produce a lots of oxygen to the world through our forest reserves, "added Giammattei.

Mexico is the current president of CELAC, a multilateral organization made up of 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

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