“The Ibero-American community, long thought dead or useless by many, is consolidating,” reported the Spanish newspaper El País at the conclusion of the Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo.
“Despite its contradictions and weaknesses, the conference that brings together the 22 Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries of America and Europe, held a summit of heads of state and government this Saturday in Santo Domingo, number 28 since it opened in 1991 in Guadalajara, Mexico,” the newspaper specified.
Participants tried to promote strong reforms of the international financial system to stimulate credit markets in Latin America, but Cuba refused and there was no consensus.
However, the Ibero-American Cooperation Plan of Action 2023-26, the Digital Bill of Rights, the Food Security Strategy and the Environmental Charter have been approved. And the hosting President, Dominican Luis Abinader, called for “unity under the umbrella of solidarity, justice, cooperation and multilateralism and the preservation of peace,” El País reported.
Cuban ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel said he wanted to restructure the international financial architecture but without promoting “modern colonialism” and without accumulating foreign debt.
“The US government is determined to destabilize our country and destroy the Cuban revolution,” said Díaz-Canel, who also called for the embargo to be lifted and criticized Cuba’s inclusion on the US list of countries that support terrorism.
Chile’s President Gabriel Boric once again labeled Daniel Ortega a dictator and criticized the stripping of Nicaraguan citizenship of dozens of Ortega’s opponents.
Boric also referred to migration. “We know that migration flows have changed, today migration management represents one of the major regional challenges,” he commented. “There is no one-size-fits-all recipe and any solution requires collaboration with countries of origin, transit and destination.”
For his part, Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for a change in the attitude of rich nations to curb global warming, which is affecting areas like the Amazon, considered the lungs of the planet.
The appointment comes at a time when fears, particularly in markets, over global financial stability were surging after the sudden bankruptcy of two regional US banks earlier this month, reminiscent of the 2008 crisis, Portal news agency reported.
“By this point, with so much financial concentration, with so much speculative play, we should already understand that the current financial system no longer needs helping. We have to change it drastically,” said Argentine President Alberto Fernández.
Meanwhile, the governments of Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic called for an international effort to help Haiti.