“It was an excellent summit”. This is how Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla described the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), held this Tuesday in the southern city with the participation of the 33 countries of our Americas, in a few succinct and emphatic words.
The Minister of Foreign Relations spoke about these and other assessments shortly after the end of the meeting in the South American country with the press team of the Presidency of the Republic. where common postulates came together for our cities, essential to strengthen the process of community revitalization and empowerment.
It is a historic summit, Rodríguez Parrilla stressed, “of the continuity of the recovery process that Mexico has given significant impetus to, that Argentina has continued and that is now being placed in the hands of the Caribbean, particularly under the leadership of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and beloved Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to continue this endeavor.”
“It was a summit of unity, of unity in diversity, proactive in terms of attention to fundamental issues such as climate change, the situation in the post-Covid world, initiatives around epidemics and their prevention, and issues related to development, the exercise of Human rights and democracy,” said the Chancellor.
Asked by the press team about the importance of the debates, Rodríguez Parrillas called them “excellent” in which President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s speech “shone”, which was “very well received” and in which a dozen countries decided to speak against the blockade of Cuba.
Referring to the main documents adopted during the meeting, he commented that they were essentially the Buenos Aires Declaration and a dozen special declarations.
He explained that in the main statement there are two paragraphs related to Cuba: one emphatically related to the need to end the blockade and the other related to the presence of the largest of the Antilles on the false list of countries who support terrorism. In addition, other communiqués had been submitted on Cuban initiative, which referred to the blockade itself, the scourge of terrorism and disarmament.
“The balance is very positive, promising,” affirmed the Chancellor, who also addressed the importance of the election of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as the pro tempore Presidency of the Community. For the first time, he stressed, an English-speaking Caribbean country was assuming this responsibility, recalling that Cuba had previously assumed the presidency, representing the Caribbean.
I’m sure, he estimated, that with the support of the entire Caribbean, St. Vincent and the Grenadines “will make a presidency to remember.”
The path of Celac strengthens
Can you confirm that this summit strengthens the path to revitalizing CELAC, which began two years ago in Mexico? Our press team asked the Cuban Foreign Minister, who categorically expressed his belief in the continuity of recent work are years that give strength to the community.
Celac, he said, was an “extraordinary, autochthonous and sovereign creation, for the first time in two hundred years of independence from what Martí called Our America”.
Rodríguez Parrilla recognized the various challenges that the community has had to face in recent times, where “the vicissitudes of pendulum swings and the sabotage of right-wing governments interested in weakening them were present”, Rodríguez Parrilla stressed that ” Fortunately, the best causes have overlapped and there is currently a favorable political correlation in the region, similar to that which led to the creation of Celac”.
I think, he said, that there is a very promising perspective.
According to the Cuban Foreign Minister, this was also a sign of strengthening and revitalizing the community of Latin American and Caribbean countries “the opportunity to listen to the leaders of other countries that do not belong to our region within the framework of the summit” and they were called to the appointment.
A memorable speech was that of Chinese President Xi Jinping. In this sense, Rodríguez Parrillas recalled that the founding of the Celac China Forum was taking place in Brazil. The emphasis on reclaiming this space, he stressed, offers the region an opportunity to “more actively participate in Chinese initiatives for global security, for development and for building a community with a common future.”
He also referred to other interventions that took place during the meeting, such as the President of the European Council; US President Joe Biden’s representative, who delivered a respectful speech to the region and offered cooperation from a position of respect for independence and sovereignty; and African groups. All this, it was said, gave the “summit an even broader dimension”.