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Petro, Boric and Díaz-Canel, but not Lula and López Obrador: the presences and absences of the Ibero-American Summit

2023-03-23T10:42:05.896Z


The meeting of the 22 countries of the organization that is being held in Santo Domingo is preparing to discuss climate change, equity, migration and regional integration


The days leading up to each high-level international summit are always abuzz with expectations about those present and those absent due to the significance of the attendances.

The XXVIII meeting of the 22 countries of the Ibero-American Community that is being held this Friday and Saturday in Santo Domingo is a crucial event due to its agenda -which will cover the fight against climate change, migration, the economy and regional integration-, but it will also be because of the geopolitical message of his family photo.

After the previous edition of the summit, which took place in Andorra in 2021 essentially telematically due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Ibero-American General Secretariat headed by former Chilean Foreign Minister Andrés Allamand is currently awaiting the arrival of 16 heads of State, presidents and vice presidents.

Among them,

This Wednesday the participation of the Colombian Gustavo Petro, the Chilean Gabriel Boric or the Argentine Alberto Fernández was confirmed and the participation of the Cuban Miguel Díaz-Canel was still scheduled.

On the other hand, the two countries with the highest GDP and population in Latin America, Brazil and Mexico, will not be represented by their presidents.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office less than three months ago and is trying to recover the international prestige of the Ibero-American giant after the mandate of Jair Bolsonaro, had already scheduled a visit to China that was decisive for the country's economic interests.

He will be replaced in the Dominican Republic by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, who intends to reaffirm Brazil's commitment to a new impulse from the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), thus joining Argentina's recent proposal.

Nor will Andrés Manuel López Obrador attend and, although this decision is not a novelty, on this occasion the chancellor, Marcelo Ebrard, has also canceled his attendance.

The Mexican delegation will be headed by an undersecretary, Maximiliano Reyes,

Nicolás Maduro is another of the leaders who usually generates expectation in international appointments.

The president of Venezuela sought leadership in the organization's last meeting two years ago, but finally canceled at the last minute amid a wave of criticism of his government.

And last January he got off

in extremis

of the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) for fear of some "aggressions" to the Venezuelan delegation and protests from opponents.

Maduro is currently facing an internal corruption scandal at the state oil company, PDVSA, which forced the resignation of Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami on Monday.

Sources from the Bolivarian Executive consulted by EL PAÍS indicated this Wednesday that they still did not have the president's agenda at the summit.

With these premises, the most realistic forecast is that Caracas will send Foreign Minister Yván Gil.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, on the other hand, is still on the agenda.

The Cuban authorities called for legislative elections on Sunday whose only unknown will be the abstention rates and the president's latest pronouncements have had to do with that, with the call to vote that he made this Wednesday citing Fidel Castro.

However, the island's government is already present at the Ibero-American Summit.

This has been confirmed through social networks by Rodolfo Benítez, General Director of Multilateral Affairs of the Foreign Ministry: "[The] Cuban delegation participates today in a meeting of national coordinators and Ibero-American cooperation managers in Santo Domingo. We are getting ready for the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit , scheduled for March 25 under the motto: Together for a fair and sustainable Ibero-America”.

Those who did confirm their attendance at the meeting of the Ibero-American Community days ago are the presidents of Colombia, Chile and Argentina.

Both Petro and Boric and Fernández are especially sensitive to the international projection of their governments.

The three will also have a break from internal political tensions.

Boric has already confirmed that he will address a key issue for his administration at the summit, which has just turned one year old and is suffering from a significant decline in popularity: migration and control of the arrival of foreigners, especially Venezuelans.

Both will coincide with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, King Felipe VI, the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, and the high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, special guest of the conclave.

Dina Boluarte, at the head of the Government of Peru since the failed self-coup attempt by Pedro Castillo, on December 7, will not be in the Dominican Republic either while criticism of her management of the protests and investigations of police abuse intensify.

The president of the neighboring country, Bolivia, is expected.

Luis Arce joins that of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, that of Paraguay, Mario Abdo, that of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, who will be the only woman among the senior officials, or that of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves.

The Daniel Ortega regime, which has accelerated its repressive escalation against the opposition and is now a

de facto

one-party model, is increasingly isolated on the international stage.

Even at the ideological antipodes, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has also chosen to undertake a systematic attack against criticism of his security and prison policy, which has managed to corner gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio-18. at the cost of a sustained deterioration of human rights.

This, in any case, will be represented in principle by his vice president, Félix Ulloa.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-03-23

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