The VI Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) marked a starting point to relaunch the dialogue in the region, specialists agreed.
Despite the differences, the leaders approved the declaration of Mexico City, of 44 points, as well as six special declarations, including the need to end the economic blockade on Cuba, the question of the Malvinas Islands or the fight against it. climate change.
For Élodie Brun, professor-researcher at the Center for International Studies of The College of MexicoFrom the point of view of international relations, the message of support for multilateralism was important.
“The final declaration is a milestone and it means that there is a will to dialogue. Although democracy is highlighted, the crisis in Venezuela or Nicaragua was not mentioned, the rights of migrants are mentioned, but we know that several countries face problems in the management of flows, the declaration exists but it is very generic, ”he said.
“The declaration contains a strong Mexican footprint, which is a way of recognizing that Mexico has a leadership position in Celac at the moment. An example of this is the mention of non-intervention, something important for the current government, or when initiatives that have been coordinated by Mexico are mentioned, such as the resolution at the UN Assembly in April 2020 on equitable access to vaccines and supplies. doctors ”, added the specialist in Latin America.
Juan Carlos Baker, academic at the School of Government and Economics of the University panameric (UP), considered that the meeting showed that there are many ideas, concepts and interests, however, the thread that leads all the actions to be carried out at the regional level is still not found.
“For a long time Latin America has not been able to structure or have an idea that is capable of aligning all countries. The meeting was very important, the region cannot be left out in the fight for international leadership between the United States and China, ”he said.
Despite being challenges, both specialists agreed on how positive it is to tackle the fight against climate change and gender inclusion and parity.
Regarding the proposal of the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to create “something similar” to the European Union Together with the United States and Canada for economic integration, the experts stressed that it is a difficult conception since several countries have their own trade agreements.
“In its current configuration, Celac cannot, since it is a forum for dialogue, today it cannot pretend to this (…) There are many countries that do not have great interest in having an economic agreement for reasons to protect their development model or for ideological reasons. Let us remember the failure of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) project in 2005, and there are countries in the region that already have integration schemes among themselves or with other countries in the world that will prevent the reproduction of an agreement of the type of the T-MEC ”, highlighted the Colmex academic.
The former undersecretary of foreign trade added that it is difficult even in his own conception.
“The EU has managed to make the countries cede part of their activities or responsibilities to a supranational entity in matters of finance, foreign policy, trade, etc., and in that part it is difficult to reconcile,” he said.
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