Fernández crosses the road to Maduro and joins Spain at the Ibero-American summit

Ever since I remembered “Why don’t you shut up?” As King Juan Carlos launched the always irrepressible Hugo Chávez at the 2007 Ibero-American summit, a lot has happened. To begin with, the Bolivarian leader has left. The monarch also did not abdicate in favor of his son and, years later, had to go into exile, implicated in one of his many scandals. Latin America has leaped from left to right and from there to the depths of the divide. And something similar happened in Spain, with the additional effervescence of its nationalisms. As if that weren’t enough, the pandemic has exploded as well.

The XXVII Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government which will take place today will have as its motto “Innovation for sustainable development – Objective 2030. Ibero-America facing the challenge of the coronavirus ” And, like all conclaves of this type, since the pandemic went into effect, it will unfold in a largely virtual format. Until yesterday, who had not yet confirmed his participation was Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, but that doesn’t take away from some of the controversies and expectations of the reunion in perhaps not so proportional doses.

Fernández will be among the first to use the statutory seven minutes during the space of debate between the leaders.

To begin, The national government will act in concert with that of the Spanish Pedro Sánchez to promote a special declaration, as part of the Summit, on access to external funding to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, the multilateral approach. However, it will also be a forum in which President Alberto Fernández will share spaces with leaders as different as Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro and Uruguayan Luis Lacalle Pou, who did not hesitate to call Caracas a “dictator” in the past. How virtual coexistence will develop in the neighborhood is a mystery.

Due to the time difference, the event will start around noon in Argentina. Fernández will be among the first to use the statutory seven minutes during the debate space between the participants. Before, at the start, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, will dedicate a few words, preceded by the Head of Government of the Principality of Andorra, Xavier Espot, and the Ibero-American Secretary General, Rebeca Grynspan, who will also give his global diagnosis

The declaration in collaboration with the Kingdom of Spain is part of the affirmations that Argentina has been promoting in international forums since last year and It aims not only to create opportunities for access to international organizations, but above all to alleviate the heavy debt burden of developing countries.O. In parallel, the need to promote universal access to the Covid-19 vaccine as a public good, another of the flags that Argentina carries, will also be discussed.

Until yesterday, 18 heads of government and state had confirmed their attendance. And in light of the list, it promises to be a meeting of leaders with very different, almost antagonistic positions in the international system: by Maduro, Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega and Cuban Miguel Díaz-Canel –Announced in the last hours as leader of the Party in addition to the government of the island– until Lacalle Pou, Colombian Iván Duque and Chilean Sebastián Piñera. For Lenín Moreno, it will even be his farewell before handing over power in a month.

Argentina will also promote a declaration on the sovereignty dispute over the Falklands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich and surrounding areas

Neither Bolsonaro nor Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador had yet to be confirmed. Paraguayan Mario Abdo Benítez either. On the other side of the Atlantic, for their part, will be present – face to face – King Felipe VI of Spain, Sánchez and the Portuguese Antonio Santos and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa – respectively first and president -, as well as some leaders of Central America – Guatemala and the Dominican Republic – who notably crossed the Atlantic.

As is often the case in Ibero-American summits, Argentina will also promote a special declaration on the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas. and the search for a solution through dialogue and under the terms established by the corresponding United Nations resolutions. The rest of the assistants usually accompany the complaint.

Regarding the main focus of the call, the objective is to discuss multilateral solutions to the pandemic crisis through dialogue between regions. In other words, think about valuation in conjunction with innovation proposals from a wide variety of approaches: technological development but also sustainable development from its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental– on the basis of the Forum’s Agenda 2030.

Today’s summit marks the close of the 2019-2020 biennium, which, due to the pandemic, lasted until April of this year. Until last week, preparatory cycles followed. In fact, April 15 was the preparatory conclave of foreign ministers. In principle, all of the documents that will be debated today, including the final declaration, have been approved by governments, although the leadership of the leaders – and in this case with some controversial presences – always leaves room for the unexpected.