From Reuters:
“European Union-style bloc
pitched for Latin America, Caribbean”
Latin American and Caribbean
nations should aspire to a bloc like the European Union, Mexico's president and
other leaders said at a summit on Saturday, in a bid to wrest influence away
from the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS). For years, a
few of the region's leftist standard-bearers who attended the gathering of the
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) have viewed the OAS as
too close to the United States, resenting in particular its exclusion of Cuba
from its members states. The host of Saturday's summit, Mexican President
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told more than a dozen presidents and prime
ministers at the opening ceremony that such a revamped diplomatic body could
better boost the region's inequality-stricken economies as well as confront
health and other crises. "In these times, CELAC can become the principal
instrument to consolidate relations between our Latin American and Caribbean
nations," he said in a cavernous ballroomat Mexico's ornate national
palace where leaders took turns speaking and some sparks flewbetween
ideological adversaries.
"We should build in the
American continent something similar to what was the economic community that
was the beginning of the current European Union," the leftist Lopez
Obrador said. He emphasized the need to respect national sovereignty and adhere
to non-interventionist and pro-development policies. The leaders gathered at
the invitation of Lopez Obrador with a stated aim of weakening the OAS. The
summit's kickoff focused attention on the region's center-left leaders,
including Peru's new president, Pedro Castillo, Cuba's Miguel Diaz-Canel and
Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro pulled
out from CELAC last year, criticizing it for elevating undemocratic countries.
Argentina's Alberto Fernandez canceled at the last minute due to a sudden
cabinet shuffle in his country.
SPARKS FLY Some fissures
emerged among leaders. Uruguay's center-right President Luis Lacalle said his
participation should not be interpreted as an embrace of some of the region's
more authoritarian regimes or a rejection of the OAS. "We are
worried and look gravely at what's happening in Cuba, Nicaragua and
Venezuela," he said, ticking off what he described as repressive actions
including jailing of political opponents. Cuba's Diaz-Canel fired back
by attacking neo-liberal policies that he said have retarded social progress.
He also criticized Lacalle's leadership, noting the large response from a
recent petition drive by his domestic political opposition. The
Uruguayan responded by criticizing Cuba's communist government, noting it does
not tolerate opposition or allow its people to elect their own leaders. Bolivian
President Luis Arce called for a global agreement to forgive debts for poor
countries while Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez called for a regional
body to combat climate change. A new CELAC fund to respond to natural
disasters was also announced. Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez
helped set up CELAC in 2011, and his embattled successor Maduro arrived in the
Mexican capital late on Friday as a surprise addition. read more . In
remarks Friday night, Maduro suggested a new CELAC headquarters be established
in the Mexican capital. Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard politely
sidestepped that proposal on Saturday when asked by reporters, describing the
idea as premature.
^ North America, Central America,
South America and the Caribbean already have:
1.) The
Andrean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru)
2.) The
Caribbean Community (Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica,
Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Monserrat – British Territory, St. Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and
Tobago)
3.) Mercosur
(Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay)
4.) The
Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (which includes the
Caribbean territories of: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba,
Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts
and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad
and Tobago)
5.) The
Central American Integration System (Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama)
6.) The
Union of South American Nations (Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela)
7.) The
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States ( Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina,
the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica,
the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti,
Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and
Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela)
8.) The
South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone (which includes: Argentina, Brazil,
Uruguay)
9.) The
Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil,
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States,
Uruguay and Venezuela)
10.) Latin American Integration Association
(Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay,
Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela)
11.) The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement
(Canada, Mexico and the United States)
12.) The Organization
of American States (Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize,
Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint
Vincent and the Grenadine, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay
and Venezuela)
The Regions don’t need another
Organization. They need to revamp what they already have. Also, making a
European Union style Bloc isn’t the best solution.
The EU only helps Germany and France (who
dictate what all the other 25 member countries do) and as Covid has shown when
push comes to shove the EU is useless and its every country for themselves –
the EU abandoned Italy and Spain in 2020 and Germany (and other countries)
worked hard to help themselves rather than helping curb all the deaths.
The EU can’t even stop Hungary and Poland from
openly discriminating against Homosexuals despite it being against EU Law. Hungary
has a “"Homosexual and Transexual Propaganda" Law – like Russia’s. Poland
has 100 municipalities (including five voivodships) in their “LGBT Free Zones.”
The EU is not something others
should aspire to. ^
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