Cuba Attends CELAC 2022 in Argentina

Officials arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday to meet for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) 2022 Summit. It is the twenty-second meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of the region. The event will run until Friday.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez arrived in Argentina today to attend the CELAC Summit hosted by Argentina’s President, Alberto Fernández, and Foreign Minister, Santiago Cafiero.

Minister Rodriguez’ official delegation includes the Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations and national coordinator for CELAC, Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo; the general director of Multilateral Affairs and International Law, Rodolfo Benítez Verson; the general director for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eugenio Martínez Enríquez.

President Fernández will host an official lunch at 8:30 pm at the Kirchner Cultural Center in honor of the attending delegations.

On Friday, they will hold a plenary session at the San Martin Palace where the pro tempore presidency will be discussed.

Last year’s Summit focused on the unity and integration of Latin America and the Caribbean. At that time, Mexico pushed for a proposal to replace or reform the Organization of American States (OAS), seen by many as an “interventionist” instrument of the United States.

As a continuation of the theme of the last summit in Mexico, the discussions in Argentina will be marked by the need to strengthen the mechanism after the rather dubious performance of the OAS in resolving intra-regional conflicts in recent years.

Minister Rodriguez revealed in his Twitter account today that he met with Argentina’s Foreign Minister Cafiero to address issues of regional and bilateral matters. The two ministers signed agreements of commercial exchange, cooperation and agri-food development.

CELAC is an intergovernmental organization representing 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.

It was established in Venezuela on December 3, 2011, with the signing of the Declaration of Caracas, in which eight Latin American nations formed the Contadora Group (Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama) and later, the Contadora Support Group (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay).