Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum (left) with Honduran President Xiomara Castro (right) during the 9th CELAC Summit in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on April 9, 2025; Photo: AFP.
At the 9th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned economic blockades against any country and singled out those imposed on Cuba and Venezuela by the United States.
“We reject, as Mexico has historically done, trade sanctions and blockades…” said Sheinbaum. “No to the blockade of Cuba. No to the blockade of Venezuela,” the Mexican president stated during her speech at the summit, held in Honduras, on Wednesday, April 9.
Sheinbaum pointed out that these blockades “only harm the well-being of people and do not build regions of peace and prosperity.”
“Our foreign policy is characterized by the pursuit of peace and dialogue as a means of conflict resolution, as well as by constant respect for the self-determination of peoples,” she emphasized.
A summit for the regional economy
During her speech, the Mexican president, while not directly mentioning Donald Trump’s tariff war, mentioned that “these are times of profound changes in global trade” that affect countries in the region.
She took the opportunity to invite her peers at CELAC to convene “a summit for the economic well-being of Latin America and the Caribbean, to achieve greater regional economic integration based on shared prosperity” and respect for their sovereignty.
“Trade and economic exchange have united us for centuries in the pursuit of prosperity for our people. The history of Latin America and the Caribbean since the struggle for our independence has been characterized by solidarity and mutual support. Today should be no exception,” Sheinbaum said.
She noted that Mexico is working from a basic premise: “A more united region is a stronger region, one that can articulate concrete solutions and proposals for regional integration and cooperative actions in trade, education, science, technological development, clean energy, and biodiversity conservation, with the vision of always building more egalitarian societies.”
Sheinbaum also addressed the issue of immigration, amid Trump’s massive deportations, citing the need to “cooperate in addressing human mobility from a humanistic perspective.”
“Our historical position has been that the most humane and most successful way is to address the structural causes of inequality, unemployment, and violence that drive migration,” Sheinbaum said. “We reject racism, classism, the violation of human rights, and the criminalization of our brothers and sisters on our continent who, for whatever reason, have had to migrate north.”
Petro: Latin America cannot lessen its respect for human dignity
Colombian President Gustavo Petro asserted that “Latin America cannot lower human dignity” in response to the global challenges facing humanity today.
The Colombian president argued that the tragedy of migration must not remain an “agenda of solitude,” noting that “millions of migrants are treated like criminals” when they are victims of, among other factors, climate change—a phenomenon he attributes to Northern nations.
Petro recalled being vilified for stating that migrants are not “criminals” and should not arrive “in chains to our land.” He warned, “If we accept even one person in chains, we regress to the era of slave ships carrying Black men and women in bondage.”
Causes of migration
Petro insisted migration must be prioritized in regional discussions, stressing that its root causes—including “poverty driven by the climate crisis and the greed of the wealthy North, aided by Southern collaborators”—are often ignored. “Migration is a consequence of geographic inequality caused by the climate crisis,” he said, adding that solutions cannot involve “shackling migrants and sending them to prisons in El Salvador.”
He further emphasized that the world “needs multilateralism to address shared interests, as we’ve squandered opportunities by perpetuating conflict.”
Regional unity to address tariffs
Petro, who arrived Wednesday to attend the summit and assume CELAC’s pro-tempore presidency this year, urged regional unity to counter US-imposed tariffs.
“First, act as a coalition; second, open ourselves to the world,” Petro said, advocating for a coordinated response. He outlined plans for strategic meetings between CELAC and the European Union in November, with China in May, and later with African and Persian Gulf nations.
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
