At yesterday’s meeting of foreign ministers of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Buenos Aires, Argentine President Alberto Fernández officially assumed the post of President Pro Tempore, succeeding Mexico which has held that position for two years. While Mexico led CELAC, it collaborated closely with Argentina, and now that Fernández is taking the organization’s helm, that collaborative relationship will undoubtedly strengthen. The meeting was presided over by Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero. In his speech to the summit, Fernández emphasized that his priority for the coming year will be to seek consensus and respect “pluralism,” so that members may work together toward common goals such as the post-pandemic economic recovery, and addressing the region’s debt burden. “CELAC wasn’t created to oppose anyone,” he emphasized. It will respect democracy and human rights, but won’t interfere in the internal economic or political affairs of any nation.
Cafiero outlined a 15-point program for CELAC, including tackling the pandemic and healthcare, economic development, food security, Ibero-American and Caribbean infrastructure integration, aerospace and science and technology. He pointed to the “common identity,” of member nations which unites them. The reality is more complicated, however, as the region is divided along left-right lines, which is just as the Anglo-American warmongers prefer it, and is also facing an out-of-control COVID crisis. Without a clear programmatic approach, such as linking Ibero-America up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and moving in the direction of the Schiller Institute’s world health platform, overcoming those divisions will be difficult. The brawl over the role of the Organization of American States (OAS) presided over by State Department asset Luis Almagro, which helped instigate the 2019 coup in Bolivia and acts as an agent of Anglo-American policy for the region, is one example of regional tensions. The U.S. is a member of the OAS. During Mexico’s term as CELAC’s President Pro Tempore, President Andres Manuel López Obrador denounced the U.S. use of “human rights” as a bludgeon against countries like Venezuela and Cuba, and proposed making CELAC an alternative to the OAS to better represent the interests of the region as a whole. Argentina’s President supported that proposal.
A further indication of the regional polarization was the speech by Colombian Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez, whose government is U.S. allied; she polemicized that it was a “huge mistake and enormous irresponsibility to support or encourage leftist governments to abandon the Organization of American States,” Argentine daily Infobae reported today. This was a reference to the fact that Nicaragua left OAS, after it charged that the country’s Nov. 7, 2021 presidential election, which reelected President Daniel Ortega, was fraudulent, implying that CELAC played a role in this. Ramirez called for Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to be expelled from CELAC for violating the 2011 Declaration on the Defense of Democracy, and for suppressing and torturing political opponents. Juan Carlos Holguin, Foreign Minister of Ecuador’s pro-U.S. government, called on CELAC to have a serious debate on democracy in the region, stop acting like a political organization and move closer to the U.S. and Europe, the Argentine daily La Nacion reported him as saying today.
