San Salvador, January 3 (Prensa Latina) El Salvador’s bid for Brazil’s return to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) suggests different winds will blow in regional integration this year, international commentators estimate today.
That America’s so-called Thumbelina is calling for this move to “South American giant” is indicative of the region moving toward greater independence and integration processes, distant but not separate from contact with the United States, hitherto the principal world economy.
During his stay in Brasilia, Salvadoran Vice-President Félix Ulloa was received by President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and met his counterpart Geraldo Alckmin.
At that meeting, the Salvadoran called for Brazil’s return to Celac, from where he left by decision of former President Jair Bolsonaro, while also discussing the agenda between the two nations.
They spoke of the long diplomatic ties that have existed since 1906 and the interest in strengthening the common working agenda to achieve more mutual benefits. They also discussed Brazil’s investments in El Salvador, which total more than $37 million, according to a statement from the President’s House.
Ulloa’s call for Brazil’s return to Celac and the offer of support at the next summit of heads of state in Argentina to jointly advance this integration process is striking.
As historical data, it should be noted that this regional integration unit in Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, under the III. Latin America and the Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development (CALC) and the XXII. Group Summit was established in Rio, meeting on December 2nd and 3rd, 2011.
Ulloa also proposed, among other things, the establishment of an Executive Secretariat and a permanent headquarters.
In anticipation of Brazil’s return to this forum, President Lula will make his first official trip as head of state to Argentina on January 24 to meet his counterpart Alberto Fernández.
According to Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, the reason for his visit will be to attend the Celac summit, based on the fact that there is a political decision to again become part of this entity, where he has pushed the regional integration process together with Venezuela and other nations .
On the other hand, some analyzes indicate that El Salvador could resume relations with Venezuela, where the opposition parties themselves had already removed the “interim government” installed in January 2019 in response to Nicolás Maduro’s alleged illegitimacy, and this was an argument in favor of the Distancing between San Salvador and Caracas.
According to Venezuelan academic Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein, in 2023 Miraflores will work to integrate with different scenarios such as Mercosur, Unasur, Celac, Petrocaribe, some of which also converge with El Salvador.