On Friday, the leaders of the member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) arrived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to participate in the eighth summit of this regional cooperation and integration mechanism
Created in 2010, CELAC includes 33 countries with a population of about 600 million. Below are the main events of its 8th summit as they occur.
Colombian president Gustavo Petro stresses the need to promote peace. In his speech he called Israel's continued bombing of Palestinians in Gaza a genocide. Israel is committing "genocide before our eyes," he said, denouncing the support that Britain, the United States and the European Union granted to Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
Petro also called the failed war on drugs led by the U.S. government a genocide. "We have lived through a genocide of a million Latin Americans in the last half century."
He criticized Washington for establishing a fight against drugs on the basis of "repression, jail, police and murder and not on prevention and public health." In this respect, the Colombian president denounced that the big drug lords have been protected by corrupt authorities.
Regarding the process of peace in Colombia, Petro noted that "it has taken significant steps, with the invaluable contribution of the CELAC countries."
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace is a historic milestone. "The Proclamation means hope for millions, whose main concern is survival in a world convulsed by violence and wars," he said.
- To support peace is to defend the right of every people to freely choose their political model, and their own path to economic and social development, the president said in his speech
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva proposes a motion to demand an immediate end to the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza. "I want to take advantage of the presence of UN Secretary General António Guterres to propose a Celac motion for an immediate end to this genocide," Lula said.
He urged Guterres to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter for the Security Council to pronounce itself on the situation in Gaza, which threatens international peace and security.
The president also made a call on the international community about the indifference to the suffering of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. "Already more than 30,000 are dead. The lives of thousands of innocent women and children are at stake," he said.
- "The humanitarian tragedy in Gaza requires that we all be able to say enough is enough to the collective punishment that the Israeli government imposes on the Palestinian people. People are dying waiting in line for food. The indifference of the international community is shocking," the Brazilian president told the summit
This, in turn, helps to address poverty, hunger, threats to social cohesion, and the climate crisis, he stressed, mentioning that arms and drug trafficking threaten LATAM. Therefore, the UN will support initiatives that contribute to mitigating the consequences of these scourges.
Guterres further criticized the international financial system, which he considered unjust and incapable of responding to the financing demands of developing nations.
PM Gonsalves stresses that peace is anti-imperialist. During his speech at the CELAC summit, St. Vincent & the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves affirmed that regional peacekeeping is an anti-imperialist and anti-hegemony task.
- Justice, prosperity, and civilized living are the means to achieve peace, he said, recalling that LATAM peace is often undermined by trafficking of U.S.-made arms to transnational gangs
Honduras Takes Over Pro Tempore Presidency of CELAC. Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who also serves as the president of the Central American Integration System, stated that she had the honor of assuming the CELAC presidency until 2025.
"As a proud representative of the Honduran resistance, I send a strong, giant, and brave embrace to the noble people of the Latin American and Caribbean Great homeland," she said and reaffirmed her "unwavering commitment" to peace.
Castro recalled that the proclamation of LATAM as a "Peace Zone", which was ratified at the second CELAC summit held in Havana, celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2024.
"Despite all the difficulties we have faced, we have managed to maintain our historical custom of being a war-free zone. Today we must reaffirm our commitment that never will a people of Latin America and the Caribbean use violence against a brotherly country."
"The problems and differences among this bloc's countries must be resolved among ourselves without external interference or pressure, using dialogue as a tool, and always thinking about regional well-being and the self-determination of peoples," Castro stated.
"I am a defender of peace. Latin America must raise its voice," she said, concluding her speech by recalling the words of Honduran environmentalist Berta Caceres, who urged to "exercise humanity because there is no time left."
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