Celac: an authoritarian regional space?

The recent 2023 global report from the prestigious international organization Human Rights Watch, in its press release on Latin America and the Caribbean, states that “In Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, oppressive regimes commit aberrational abuses against critics to silence dissent.

Democratically elected leaders in Latin America can play an essential role in pushing for a democratic transition, for example, by urging the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela to negotiate acceptable electoral conditions;

the government of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua to release more than 200 political prisoners;

and to the government of Cuba to drop the criminal charges against people detained arbitrarily."

The creation of CELAC in 2011 claimed to be based on the unrestricted respect for the Rule of Law, the defense of democracy, respect for Human Rights and fundamental freedoms, as fundamental requirements to integrate the organization.

CELAC even adopted in Caracas the "Special Declaration on the Defense of Democracy and the Constitutional Order", also signed by Cuba, whose one-party political regime expressly violates it, and by Venezuela itself, which already then with Hugo Chávez in power had taken several steps towards authoritarianism.

Indeed, at the founding meeting of CELAC, on December 3, 2011, it was agreed in Caracas to "Adopt a commitment clause with the promotion, defense and protection of the Rule of Law, of the democratic order, of the sovereignty of the peoples of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms, including, among others, the right to life, liberty and personal security, not being subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment, not being arbitrarily detained, imprisoned or exile, nor the object of summary and arbitrary executions, forced disappearances, and freedom of opinion and expression.”

Rafael Correa, being president of Ecuador and a member of the authoritarian Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) was very clear at the II Summit of Heads of State and Government in Havana, in January 2014, affirming in an exclusive sense that CELAC should replace the Organization of American States (OAS).

The representatives of ALBA, with Cuba and Venezuela at the helm, are behind the purpose of making CELAC the "sole spokesperson for the region in international forums, agencies and organizations."

Unlike the OAS, the exclusive CELAC does not have a space for civil society participation.

It is logical, when countries with authoritarian governments that integrate and lead CELAC criminalize freedom of association, assembly, expression and the right to political participation.

Even the Argentine government, which currently holds the Pro-Tempore Presidency of CELAC, denied CADAL, a private and non-partisan foundation that promotes human rights and international democratic solidarity, the use of a space in the Foreign Ministry to organize a alternative event that will finally be held virtually.

The most unfortunate thing is that the exclusion and repression of those who think differently in some countries that make up CELAC has the complicity of the participation, in this authoritarian space, of Latin American countries that respect democratic institutions and that even the European Union participates. in a dialogue with those who implement a state policy that criminalizes dissent.

Gabriel Salvia is General Director of CADAL.