The Chancellor Santiago cafe considered that the return of Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva to the Presidency of Brazil will promote the “regional integration” that Alberto Fernández’s government has been working on from his position in various international organizations.
“Globalization will be a globalization of blocks. This statement makes no sense if we don’t add an organization to it, and the organization ends up being brought to Brazil: because of its power, because of its vision, because it believes in regional integration as an engine that strengthens its country’s economy and those around it countries,” Cafiero stressed in an interview published by the Spanish agency EFE.
The official will travel with President Alberto Fernández tomorrow to attend Lula’s inaugurationwho headed the Brazilian state from 2003 to 2010.
Cafiero, along with Fernández, visited Lula on July 4, 2019 at Curitiba prison, where the former president was jailed on alleged corruption charges, a sentence revoked after 580 days in prison, and now hopes his inauguration will be “a party,” as which the founder of the Labor Party (PT) “deserved”.
“To see that politics and truth have won out for me is something exciting‘ he referenced the release of Lula, which he described as a “unique leader who never stopped fighting” and who sets “an example for all”..
Under Lula’s rule Brazil will rejoin the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) that he left in 2020 at the decision of President Jair Bolsonaro, who left the country yesterday to avoid attending the inauguration of his successor.
Argentina has held the pro-tempore presidency of the mechanism created in 2010 since January 7, 2022, and will leave it on January 24 with the holding of a summit in Buenos Aires, at which the executive expects high representation from member countries.
“At Celac we are trying to ensure that this (global insert) radiates across the region, but we understand that there is a previous step, which is South America, and that this previous step, the foundations that Alberto Fernández has achieved, is being reinforced the arrival of Lula”Cafiero noted to Spanish media.
Venezuela has been excluded from Mercosur since 2017 because at that time the governments of the Customs Union considered that the government of Nicolás Maduro had broken “the democratic order”.
Regarding Venezuela’s return to Mercosur, the Foreign Minister reiterated this “There is always an opportunity to reintegrate the Caribbean nation into the regional bloc, which is ‘more powerful when more countries are part of it’.
“That’s why we also want it to be formalized and for example Bolivia to become a full member, and we want to continue our agreements with Colombia, the economic complementarity agreements that we have with Ecuador, with Chile, with Peru,” said Cafiero.
In that sense, the official appreciated that the inequalities in the region will be resolved “with more integration, not less” and through “cooperative, collective solutions” among countries in the region, “not always looking outward.”
Therefore, the high international demand for natural resources may enable the four Mercosur members to “commit themselves to the chain of production processes that generate added value, that generate talent and shape the integration of talent from the region, where the scientific and technological framework conditions of the region”.
“Many companies and countries are beginning to see the region with these opportunities.”