Alberto Fernández goes to Pedro Castillo’s accession and will seek support for Argentina to chair CELAC in 2022

The trip to Peru that Alberto Fernández will undertake this Tuesday will have as main activity participate in the investiture of the new president of this country, Pedro Castillo, but at the same time, he will use it to try to consolidate Argentina’s candidacy for the presidency of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), the body created in 2011 by the late former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

The Assumption of Castillo will take place on Wednesday 28, the day of the celebration of the Bicentenary of the Independence of Peru. The Argentine Head of State will travel on a private flight accompanied by the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello, and by his spokesperson Juan Pablo Biondi, At 17 years old. The Chancellor will join in Lima Felipe Solá, who in recent days was in Mexico where he intervened in the 21st Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of CELAC.

In Peru, in addition to meeting Castillo alone, the Argentine president has scheduled hearings with him. The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, the new President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard. First and foremost, Fernández will ratify his intention to chair this forum in January 2022, which includes 32 countries. Brazil decided to withdraw in January 2020 because “CELAC has not had any results in the defense of democracy in the region; on the contrary, it gave its place to undemocratic regimes like Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua”, As stated at the time the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jair Bolsonaro, Ernesto Araújo, who was subsequently moved from this post.

Solá, between Friday and last Saturday, held several meetings with several of his colleagues. At that session, it was agreed that there would be a presidential summit in September, where Argentina’s proposal could be decided. There, the Argentine minister has already announced his intention to assume the pro-tempore presidency of Mexico. They have won the support of some of the strongest representatives in the bloc and they will now try to strengthen those intentions.

“One of the most valuable aspects of CELAC, which we must recognize and promote, is its ability to give impetus to dialogue with our extra-regional partners. This was done during this period, notably by promoting international cooperation in the area of ​​access and regional distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, articulating a common health front against the pandemic, with results of auspicious, despite the systemic conditions that all affect us, ”said Solá at Chapultepec Castle, venue of the meeting in the Mexican capital.

“Likewise, Argentina has a particular interest in political dialogue with the European Union is developed through CELAC, with an inclusive approach, by reactivating the instance of Chancellors and Presidential Summits. We believe that CELAC constitutes the environment conducive to its reactivation, by positioning the interests of Latin America and the Caribbean in a concerted manner, ”added the Argentinian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

During the meeting, chaired by the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, the head of the Argentine diplomacy also underlined: “The auspicious advances made by CELAC in the fields of health and aerospace could be replicated in an area of ​​identical strategic value, such as the transformative power of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ”. He added: “It is essential to outline a common strategy, drawing on the capacities of our region; This will allow us to position ourselves strategically on the international scene and to develop genuine scientific diplomacy ”. He also mentioned the need to deepen CELAC’s work on comprehensive disaster risk management in a region so vulnerable to phenomena produced by climate change.

“Argentina has requested that they be informed of their candidacy for the pro tempore presidency of this community for the year 2022, so that in September the decision can be taken and the corresponding announcement made”Ebrard announced, starting the debate at the top.

López Obrador, for his part, in one of his interventions expressed his idea that CELAC replaces the Organization of American States (OAS) and that an option be consolidated between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean that exceeds US interests in the region.

The Mexican president denounced that “Washington has never ceased to carry out open or secret operations against independent countries located south of the Rio Grande” and that “the influence of the foreign policy of the United States is predominant in America” . Despite his criticisms of US foreign policy, the Mexican president called on Latin American countries “to put aside the dilemma of joining the United States or opposing it on the defensive.”

“Let us start a relationship on our continent under the premise of George Washington, that nations should not profit from the misfortune of other peoples,” he said.

The bloc’s foreign ministers signed the treaty establishing the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE), of which Argentina and Mexico were the promoters.

The countries that make up CELAC are: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.