Difficult crossing of Lacalle Pou and Abdo Benítez with Nicolás Maduro at the top of Celac

The presence of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), which takes place in Mexico, rocked the meeting and generated hard crossings with his counterparts from Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and from Paraguay, Abdo Benítez, who questioned their democratic legitimacy.

Venezuela was once again the point of confrontation between the countries of the region, which are divided between the recognition of Maduro or the opposition Juan Guaidó as leader in charge of the former oil power.

The first to criticize Maduro’s presence was Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez, who warned that his government had not changed its position on Venezuela, with which it cut off relations after recognizing Guaidó when he s ‘was proclaimed president in 2019.

“My presence at this summit This in no way represents gratitude to the government of Mr. Nicolás Maduro.. There is no change in my government and I think it is gentlemen to say it head on, “he said in his speech.

Then, Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle asserted that participating in the Celac summit did not mean being “complacent” with countries where “there is no complete democracy”, with reference to Venezuela and Nicaragua, where, as he said, “the repressive apparatus is used to silence protests, when the opponents are imprisoned ”.

In a “calm but firm voice, we must say with concern that we are seriously seeing what is happening in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela,” Lacalle told his colleagues about reports of human rights violations in the press. those countries.

Maduro, when it was his turn to deliver his summit speech, tried to keep a conciliatory tone, although he invited the two to debate democracy. “I say to the President of Paraguay: set the date, place and time for a debate on democracy in Paraguay, Venezuela and Latin America. Put yourself, President Lacalle, the date and the place, ”he declared.

In another section, the Venezuelan president invited the countries of the region to attend the municipal elections to be held on November 21, in which the opposition will participate after three years of electoral boycott, after arduous negotiations.

“Go, see dictator Maduro how he calls election number 29, all the opposition is registered. Welcome and whoever has to win wins, “he said.

Guaidó is recognized as interim president by fifty countries, led by the United States, although Maduro retains territorial and institutional control with the support of the military, Cuba, Russia and China.

During the Celac plenary session, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, came out to defend Maduro and once again condemned the United States’ economic sanctions against Caracas and Havana.

The conclave, in short, and beyond the struggles and ideological differences, no concrete results. Latin American presidents have pleaded for the region’s political and economic integration, but without proposing concrete initiatives.

After the welcoming speech by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Assistant Presidents spoke in alphabetical order.

Bolivian President Luis Arce was the first to speak. He criticized the Organization of American States (OAS) and called for an organization “which works with democratic practices and which responds to reality by supporting the sovereignty of countries and without interference”.

“The OAS is useless,” said Arce, who praised Mexico’s work on behalf of Celac as an organization that advocates that “financial interest cannot be greater than social interest.”

For his part, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel denounced the “opportunist campaign of United States interests against Cuba” and that the American embargo has been tightened by suffering “the conditions due to the pandemic”.