The signing of twenty-seven new economic and social agreements between the nations of South America and Africa was the product of three days of meetings held between representatives of more than 60 countries in Equatorial Guinea last week.
The recently formed Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) met last weekend with the European Union (EU) for a Business Summit, before holding its own annual summit over Sunday and Monday.
This week the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the emerging Asian powers China and India established diplomatic relations and new mechanisms of cooperation.
Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolás Maduro, called on countries in the region to create institutions to defend human rights within organizations like the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez sustained a meeting in Havana yesterday, where the two leaders signed six new commercial accords. Santos also mentioned that Chavez is likely to return to Venezuela early next week.
President Felipe Calderón wishes Hugo Chávez a full and speedy recovery from cancer surgery, pays homage to Chávez’s hero Simón Bolívar, flirts with Chávez’s Bolivarian movement, and welcomes the CIA, DEA and other U.S. intelligence agencies into Mexico. Is the president guilty of a fraudulent double discourse, or is he maintaining a skillful balancing act?
The CELAC triumvirate countries Chile, Cuba and Venezuela have decided this week that energy, science and technology, infrastructure, finance and social development will be the five key areas for building the new regional organisation, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
By Eva Golinger - Correo del Orinoco International, Dec 13th 2011
While much of the world is in crisis and protests are erupting throughout Europe and the United States, Latin American and Caribbean nations are building consensus, advancing social justice and increasing positive cooperation in the region.
When Eduardo Galeano wrote the Open Veins of Latin America four decades ago, he wrote of a continent mired in oppression and of a political, economic and social process that excluded the majority of its citizens. Today, something very different is taking place.
