On Dec. 2, heads of state from 33 countries met in Caracas, Venezuela, for the first summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a new regional bloc that excludes the United States and Canada. Unlike the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), the new group includes Cuba [2]. Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez [3] called the summit "historic," and predicted CELAC would soon supersede the OAS as the premier hemispheric bloc. Created as a result of an agreement reached at the Unity Summit held in Cancún in February 2010 [4], the body includes both left-wing governments like Venezuela and Bolivia, and conservative ones like Mexico and Colombia. Chile [5]'s conservative President Sebastian Pinera is to be the first rotating leader of the bloc, and Santiago will also host next year's summit. (Politic365 [6], Dec. 5; ISRIA [7], Dec. 4; BBC News [8], Dec. 3)
In Caracas, CELAC members unanimously approved a document in support of Argentina [9]'s claim to the Falklands/Malvinas [10] and anticipated that they will request the intervention of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the matter. The Special Communiqué Project on the Malvinas Islands states that the CELAC members support "Argentina’s legitimate rights in the sovereignty dispute over the Falklands/Malvinas, Georgia del Sur and Sandwich del Sur Islands, as well as its surrounding maritime spaces." (MercoPress [11], Dec. 5)
See our last post on Latin America's alternative integration [12].
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