Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero announced Jan. 12 that Brazil’s Ambassador Reinaldo Jose de Almeida Salgado had delivered a formal letter to him that same day confirming Brazil’s official return to membership of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) as well as President Lula da Silva’s attendance at CELAC’s Jan. 24 Seventh Heads of State summit in Buenos Aires.
In January of 2020, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had withdrawn from CELAC, claiming it had failed to demonstrate a willingness to “defend democracy” in the region and instead had become a forum for “authoritarian” governments— Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, etc.
Prior to attending the Jan. 24 summit, the Brazilian President will meet in a state visit on Jan. 23 with his Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernandez, during which the two are expected to sign a broad-ranging strategic agreement focusing on financial, energy and trade integration, among other topics.
According to the Jan. 10 daily Dangdai, thirty delegations are expected to attend the CELAC summit, including, so far, the heads of state of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Cuba and Uruguay. Dangdai reported that Argentina’s Foreign Ministry had informed it that Chinese President Xi Jinping, to whom President Fernandez had extended an invitation, will be sending a video message. President Fernandez had also invited U.S. President Joe Biden. Though he is not expected to attend, there are unconfirmed reports he may send his special envoy for the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Dodd.
Given the security implications of the violent Jan. 8 attacks on three government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of Bolsonaro backers, a matter still under investigation, the Argentine government is taking extraordinary security precautions. It has created a Unified Security Command, made up of personnel from several security agencies, that will be deployed between Jan. 20 and 25, to protect the CELAC summit venue and all attendees.
