Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro shaking hands with his Guyanese counterpart Irfaan Ali during the CELAC Summit in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on March 1, 2024. Photo: X/@NicolasMaduro.
Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro participated in the VIII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with the participation of more than 33 member nations of this regional bloc. The summit was marked by recent tensions between Venezuela and Guyana over Guyana’s reckless handling of the two countries’ historical territorial dispute after ExxonMobil found oil in Guyana.
During the summit, President Maduro twice greeted his Guyanese counterpart, Irfaan Ali. The first greeting was a brief handshake before entering the closed-door session, and the second time was before the lunch recess, where both dignitaries exchanged presents.
#ĂšltimoMinuto| Presidente de Guyana @DrMohamedIrfaa1 entregĂł un regalo al presidente de Venezuela @NicolasMaduro, se trataba de un ron y una moneda de su paĂs.
El mandatario venezolano fue recĂproco y tambiĂ©n le entregĂł un baĂşl con puros productos hechos en Venezuela.
¿Los… pic.twitter.com/DbLDVr6UpE
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) March 1, 2024
Coincidentally, last December 14, both presidents met after months of Guyana’s refusal to have bilateral talks to reduce tensions over the Essequibo territory dispute and Guyana’s granting of oil concessions in waters pending delimitation with Venezuela. The two countries met then to ease tensions after Guyana breached the 1966 Geneva Agreement that directed the solution of the territorial dispute over the Essequibo territory for decades.
Both presidents then signed the Argyle Declaration to reduce escalation in the territorial dispute, which has reached a historical peak in recent months after US corporation ExxonMobil found oil in Guyana. In recent weeks, Venezuelan authorities have condemned that point six of the declaration has been breached by Guyana’s inviting of warships from the United Kindom, making aggressive statements in the presence of US Southern Command officials, and conducting military drills with US military units, among others.
In the CELAC summit, Honduras, hosted by President Xiomara Castro, took the pro-tempore presidency of the bloc. Castro highlighted the effort made in the region to maintain peace, confirming her commitment to continue promoting it as a “zone of peace.” Another important topic of the summit was the Israeli genocide against defenseless Palestinians.
“We must confirm our commitment that the people of Latin America and the Caribbean will never use violence against a brother country. The problems and differences between the countries of this bloc must be resolved among ourselves without external interference or pressure, with dialogue as a tool,” she said during the plenary session.
Attending the summit were Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Cuban President Miguel DĂaz-Canel, Bolivian President Luis Arce, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, Guyananese President Irfaan Ali, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, President of Suriname Chandrikapersad Santokhi, Saint Lucian Prime Minister Philip Joseph Pierre, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The absence of Argentinian President Javier Milei and Chilean President counterpart Gabriel Boric were noticeable. Mexican President AndrĂ©s Manuel LĂłpez Obrador was not present despite his full support to CELAC, as he avoids international travel.
President Maduro reiterated his support for the consolidation of CELAC by creating a permanent secretariat with full representation of all political tendencies despite far-right governments’ sabotage of unity projects in response to White House pressures. “We must create the Permanent Secretariat, the Executive Secretariat, the General Secretariat. All international structures have it, so why won’t CELAC have it? We have to give ourselves our internal structure and strengthen our path, but that is the debate we will now,” said President Maduro to the media.
He asked for extremist positions to be abandoned and that “those who attack CELAC, Unasur, the integration path—founded by BolĂvar, by San MartĂn—dry up. They will remain dry in history. Our path must be unity in diversity; that is the great path for Latin America and the Caribbean and humanity.”
President Maduro considered that it was essential for Latin America to return to the path of unity and said that the region’s first summit was the Congress of Panama, convened by Liberator SimĂłn BolĂvar, in the early 19th century. President Maduro held a bilateral meeting with his Brazilian counterpart to discuss strategic cooperation between the two countries.
Maduro criticized the double standard of international justice. In his opinion, it has shown itself to be powerless to stop Israel’s attacks against civilians in the Gaza Strip, but it acts quickly to preserve the interests of the “West.” “International justice? Where is international justice to protect the people of Gaza? Does international justice only exist to favor the interests of North American imperialism, Europe, and the West, to cover up the crimes of the murderers and massacres they commit?” asked the Venezuelan president.
Colombian President Petro
Colombian President Gustavo Petro warned about the danger that the massacre of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Zionist government of Israel represents for Latin America and the Caribbean. The support of great foreign powers in this reprehensible act constitutes a threat to the region’s countries, whom they intend to warn “that this could happen to them if they wish to make changes without their support.”
During his speech at the summit, Petro highlighted that what is happening right now in Palestine is a “genocide.” “Several Latin American governments are going to meet to evaluate a joint position regarding the genocide in Gaza and the need for humanity to have the capacity to stop a genocide. Because if not, what happened in Europe in 1939 will be repeated,” Petro told the press after his speech at the summit.
“Germany supports genocide, France, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and especially the United States in its democratic position support dropping bombs on people,” he said.
Last Wednesday, Petro announced that Colombia would suspend arms contracts with Israel after the most recent Israeli-led massacre during the distribution of aid in Gaza. On February 29, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported that more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces while waiting for food distribution.
“Begging for food, more than 100 Palestinians were murdered by Netanyahu. This is called genocide, and this recalls the Holocaust even if the world powers do not like to recognize it. The world must block Netanyahu. Colombia suspends all purchase of weapons from Israel,” wrote the Colombian president on social media.
President Lula
In his speech at the summit, Brazilian President Lula called to “stop the carnage” in the Gaza Strip. He reiterated his condemnation of the Israeli entity for genocide against the Palestinian people.
“There are already more than 30,000 dead. The lives of thousands of innocent women and children are at stake. The lives of the Hamas hostages are also at stake. I want to finish by saying that our dignity and humanity are at stake; that is why we must stop the carnage in the name of humanity’s survival, which needs a lot of humanism,” said the Brazilian president at the summit.
Lula took advantage of the presence of UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres to propose a motion from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) calling for “the immediate end of this genocide.”
“People are dying in line to obtain food. The indifference of the international community is shocking,” stated Lula, assuring that Israel is imposing collective punishment on the Palestinian people.
Lula also called on the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to “put aside their differences and put an end to this slaughter.” The United States, a country with a permanent seat in this body, has already vetoed three resolutions that called for a ceasefire in the region.
Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff
OT/JRE/SF
