The first meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) with the Government of Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador As host he has been marked by the absence of the crisis in Venezuela and Bolivia, the two hottest political issues. In front of 29 foreign ministers and vice chancellors, the Mexican Foreign Minister, Marcelo EbrardHe kicked off on Wednesday for an appointment called to underpin Mexico’s regional leadership and its ability to become a mediator in a context where traditional blocs are diluted.
The Mexican presidency, however, will begin with two open wounds: Bolivia’s, whose new Government canceled its assistance, and that of Venezuela, which is experiencing convulsive days after the Chavismo maneuvers to wrest control of the Assembly from Juan Guaidó with a disqualified vote by the European Union and the United States. This time, however, international criticisms included the reproaches of Mexico and, with greater intensity of Argentina. Given these two controversies, CELAC will remain silent. The agenda designed by Mexico until January 8, 2021 will, foreseeably, obviate the controversial issues or that force a common position in the political sphere.
The 14 points on which they will work during the next months avoid ideological or political aspects and focus on concrete and measurable objectives, which have to do with commercial, spatial cooperation or in case of natural disasters. In addition to strengthening collaboration with China, Latin America will work on a “CELAC methodology to fight corruption,” he said. Ebrard when listing the objectives. “We tend to maximize disagreements,” the Mexican Foreign Minister acknowledged at the end of the first session he defined as “cordial and respectful.”
Mexico aspires to have its CELAC presidency serve to consolidate its role as arbitrator thanks to Estrada doctrine– which proclaims the non-intervention in matters that affect other countries – and that defines the threads of the foreign policy of López Obrador, considered by himself as “exemplary”. “The foreign policy of Mexico is exemplary. It is something recognized everywhere, and again they begin to talk about Mexico, as said before, is the older brother in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said the Mexican president last Tuesday. . CELAC, founded ten years ago with the impulse of Hugo Chávez and Lula da Silva, it has the participation of all the countries of the continent except the United States and Canada – unlike what happens in the Organization of American States (OAS) -, which is equivalent to 7.1% of world GDP.
But although CELAC avoids thorny issues, they sneaked into Wednesday’s appointment from the first moment. After the presidency was transferred neither Bolivia nor Brazil, Ebrard confirmed without adding more details. In the coming months, the agency will have to fly over a region that will travel between elections, tensions and economic stagnation. On May 3 Bolivia will go to elections. In parallel Venezuela, Nicaragua or Chile They predict a tense year on the street and in Congress.
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In the medium term, within the CELAC, the impulse of a possible renewal in the general secretariat in the OAS, one of the most delicate situations on the agenda, could be cooked according to various sources. The current address of Luis Almagro It is seen as an unusable for mediation, but it has the backing of the United States, the agency’s main financier. Mexico and Argentina are in favor of promoting the candidacy of María Fernanda Espinosa, Ecuadorian ex-chancellor, who could add some support in the Caribbean. To succeed, they must convince another important group of countries such as Canada – absent from CELAC -, Chile, Bolivia, Uruguay, Colombia or El Salvador that, a priori, support Almagro.
In the last weekend it began to take shape the third way Mexican and Argentine, when both foreign ministers criticized what happened in Caracas with Juan Guaidó. Mexico voted to allow the National Assembly to democratically elect its board of directors and warned that “the legitimate functioning of the Legislative Power is an inviolable pillar of democracies.” For its part, the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered what happened as “inadmissible for democratic coexistence” and called for the recovery of “democratic normality” and the protection of the independence of powers in Venezuela as soon as possible. Argentina recognized in this way that the Maduro Government is not democratic. The position of both countries did not go unnoticed for Elliott Abrams, the senior State Department official, who applauded the change.
As for its immediate interests, Mexico wants to promote imposing its regional development agenda for the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America, a project that seeks financing at all costs. Hours before the CELAC meeting, all the ambassadors and consuls of Mexico listened to the project of Alicia Bárcena, secretary general of ECLAC, the UN-dependent agency, with the aim of activating all possible springs to make money in A future donor conference.
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