Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro addressing the 9th CELAC summit in a pre-recorded video with a special backdrop at Miraflores Palace, Caracas, Venezuela, on April 9, 2025. Photo: Presidential Press.
By MisiĂłn Verdad – Apr 10, 2025
“A new colonialism, a new slavery, is not an option for our America. The only option is to move forward united for true emancipation,” said Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro during his presentation at the 9th Presidential Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
The president, who did not physically visit Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, for security reasons, delivered his speech via video at a meeting whose agenda was marked by regional concern over the recent immigration and trade policies promoted by US President Donald Trump. The mass deportations of migrants from the United States and the imposition of a 10% global tariff on imported goods by Washington affect Latin American countries, as well as European trading partners.
CELAC between steps and blows
Maduro reviewed previous summits, the progress made, and the attempted coups that have sought to dismantle the intergovernmental mechanism for dialogue and continental integration. In a brief historical overview, he highlighted the meetings in Salvador de BahĂa (Brazil) in 2008, CancĂşn (Mexico) in 2010, Caracas in 2011, Santiago de Chile (2013), Havana in 2014, Quito (2016), Santo Domingo (2017), and Mexico City (2021).
The president highlighted the challenges facing CELAC and urged that “our union must reinvent itself and creatively adapt to the times we are currently experiencing.” He added that unity in diversity “was possible thanks to a great dialogue between the different currents and opinions.”
It is noteworthy that CELAC made notable progress at a time when many governments in the region were progressive. However, when the balance of power shifted, US-backed projects sought to disintegrate it and render its horizon meaningless.
CELAC, a mechanism created to advance regional integration, unity, and a careful balance of the political, economic, social, and cultural diversity of Latin America and the Caribbean, has been subjected to what President Maduro referred to as “slashings.”
The head of state referred to the defunct Lima Group, a group of countries formed “to attack Venezuela, which collapsed under the force of our people’s heroic and historic resistance.” It was precisely with the rise of this group that CELAC began to lose momentum, and attempts were made to dilute both its objectives and its integration goals.
Proposals that aim to be stronger
The core of the Venezuelan president’s speech was emphasizing unity amid a complex geopolitical reality characterized by the potential trade war declared by Trump through the massive imposition of punitive tariffs.
“The unity of our peoples is an obligation and must be built on the heritage we have contributed,” said President Maduro. He proposed re-energizing CELAC through the following actions:
• Reactivation of the joint councils of ministers for the economy, health, education, science, and technology.
• Establishment of a General Secretariat to provide timely follow-ups.
Regarding the Council of Ministers, he said that it should contribute “experiences and ideas for common action that unifies us in our daily work and in our ongoing achievements,” with the goal of “thinking in the medium and long term and building its institutionality.”
According to the Venezuelan president, CELAC requires a strong structure that addresses key issues so that Latin America can become a geopolitical hub with its own voice that is focused on the real dynamics of a multipolar world.
Among its objectives, the mechanism has set out to reach consensus on issues such as social development, education, nuclear disarmament, family farming, culture, finance, energy, and the environment.
The proposed vision encompasses concrete goals such as the modernization of rail transportation, an advanced education system with high-tech equipment, the modernization of healthcare systems, and achieving “zero hunger.” These goals have progressed less rapidly than expected due to the lack of will of various stakeholders to implement tangible steps, noted President Maduro.
Reinventing oneself in the face of aggression
Maduro’s emphasis on unity was carried out in a clear context characterized by the following events and scenarios:
• The illegal sanctions and coercive measures against Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, led by the United States and its vassal states, which he described as “a form of multifaceted aggression,” and the escalation of a trade and tariff war against 180 countries around the world, which the president referred to as “the end of Western globalization.”
• The application of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to Venezuelan migrants, which is considered contrary to public law and human rights internationally. He stated that this is “the most serious civilizational aggression since the era of fascism and Nazism against migrant peoples in the United States.”
He repudiated Trump’s wave of tariffs as a way to impose “a hegemonic economic and commercial model that simply puts an end to the multipolar world that has emerged in recent decades with the economic development of new powers, new countries, and new regions.”
This is yet another attack seeking “imperial domination,” in response to which the president called for creativity and perseverance. “There are many things we can do to reinvent ourselves,” he said. President Maduro also encouraged others to speak out against this new economic regime imposed by the US elites and to generate proposals “as a powerful bloc of opinion with proposals for action.” He noted how some governments speak out against others, while others remain silent or negotiate and converse individually while the aggression advances.
In this regard, he insisted that “the independence of this 21st century is an independence to be built solely through our own efforts” and appealed to the phrase, “We have nothing to expect but from ourselves,” expressed by the Uruguayan general JosĂ© Gervasio Artigas in 1816. He also recalled the Liberator SimĂłn BolĂvar in 1821, who stated that “prudence dictates that we expect nothing from Spain nor trust our fate to our own strength.”
The president contrasted the “new slavery” of sanctions and tariffs with the unity needed in the region, and therefore encouraged the Colombian government, which is assuming the pro tempore presidency, to make greater efforts to achieve greater results.
The revival of CELAC is the aspiration of many governments in the region—a necessity in times of the acceleration of the United States’ dominance. Venezuela emerges as a voice seeking to awaken a vital space to overcome poverty and exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Paving the way for greater unity will improve the quality of life for millions of Latin Americans and prevent migration from becoming a tragic option for the working class and their families. Furthermore, regional cooperation will strengthen regional economies by establishing stronger markets that are less vulnerable to the diktats of Western elites.
President Maduro was one of the few, if not the only, regional leaders to address the concept of multipolarity as a necessity and a path for the region. He gave it a central place in his speech, alongside independence and integration, which he described as essential requirements for building a single, influential bloc in a context of global reorganization.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
MisiĂłn Verdad
MisiĂłn Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
