Hugo Chavez: with the formation of the U.S.-free Community of

Latin American and Caribbean States, are his geopolitical plans

for the region finally coming to fruition?

 

 

El Espectador, Colombia

Not All CELAC Nations Agree with Anti-Imperialist Chavez

 

"The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States came about as a result of an intention to integrate Latin America without the intervention of the U.S. … But doubts have been sown about whether the region can actually achieve independence without the United States. What is true is that Latin America has placed great importance on the search for autonomy."

 

Translated By María Celeste Chantre Fortes Alves

 

December 2, 2011

 

Colombia - El Espectador - Original Article (Spanish)

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez appears pleased at the opening session of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, in Caracas, Venezuela, Nov. 2.

 

NTN NEWS 24 VIDEO [COLOMBIA]: Latin American leaders hold talks on better-integrating the continent - without the United States, Dec. 5, 00:02:05RealVideo

Last Saturday in Caracas, the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States [CELAC] took place. The event brought into existence this new organization, which will attempt, according to the Venezuelan chief executive and host of the event [Hugo Chavez], to "integrate the region politically, economically and socially," and replace the "worn out" Organization of American States [OAS].  

 

CELAC emerged out of the age-old intention of integrating Latin America without the intervention of the U.S. (which, along with Canada, has been excluded from the summit). The idea was finally implemented by the Rio Group, which was created in the 1980s. According to Frédéric Masse, professor of international relations at the Universidad Externado de Colombia, there is still no shortage of doubt about the viability and future of this new organization. And how it will coordinate with, supplement or replace the OAS is anything but clear.

 

Chávez described the summit as, "the most important political reality in the Americas in the last 100 years or more.” The event includes the formation of a joint reserve economic fund to cope with financial turmoil, and the creation of a human rights body that will serve as an alternative to the OAS.

 

However, not everyone agrees with Chávez' address about CELAC. Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue, doubts that CELAC will amount to anything more than a symbolic reunion similar to previous initiatives (Mercosur, Unasur [Union of South American Nations], CAN [the Andean Community of Nations], ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America]) to unify a region where anti-U.S. opinion (Venezuela, Cuba) converge with countries in search of greater autonomy (Mexico, Brazil) and those that have good relations with the United States (Colombia, Chile).

 

[From left to right] Ecuador President Rafael Correa, Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez, and Cuba President Raul Castro, ay the

inauguration of the Latin American and Caribbean States

Community in Caracas, Dec. 2.

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:  

El Universal, Venezuela: Hugo Chavez Declares Monroe Doctrine Dead  

El Tiempo, Colombia: What Good is Our New, U.S.-Free 'Community'?  

Estadao, Brazil: In Latin America, Rhetoric Triumphs Over Reality  

La Razon, Bolivia: Latin America Has Excluded the U.S. … So What Now?

ABC, Spain: Hugo Chavez Calls Terrorism Indictment a U.S.-Spanish Plot  

Folha, Brazil: Latin American Unity Cannot Be Dependent on Excluding the U.S.  

La Jornada, Mexico: Latin America's March Toward 'Autonomy from Imperial Center'

La Jornada, Mexico: Militarization of Latin America: Obama 'Ahead of Bush'

O Globo, Brazil: U.S. Navy Shows That What U.S. Can Do, Brazil Can Also Do  

Clarin, Argentina: Resurrected U.S. Fourth Fleet Creates Suspicion Across South America

Le Figaro, France: U.S. Navy 'Resurrects' Fourth Fleet to Patrol Latin America

Semana, Colombia: Hugo Chávez Isn't 'Paranoid' to Fear the U.S. Marines

 

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Whether CELAC was established against or simply without the United States isn't quite clear. Eugenio Yáńez, a reporter with Cuba Encuentro, points out that the exclusion of the country to the north “has a distinctly anti-imperial purpose."

 

Doubts have been sown about whether the region can actually achieve independence without the United States. What is true is that Latin America has placed great importance on the search for autonomy. Those attending the summit agreed to consider “a step” toward integration - one of many to come. In the words of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos - who is convinced Latin America will be the continent of the decade: “The more we integrate, the more prepared we will be to face this global economic hurricane and instability on the rest of the planet.”

 

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US Dec. 6, 6:29am]

 

 

 







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