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Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador(C) poses for a photo with leaders and prime ministers during the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico September 18, 2021. Mexico's Presidency/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
The Puebla Group and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) called for the US to welcome all nations of North, South, and Central America to the Ninth Summit of the Americas.
“The Puebla Group invites the government of President Biden to hold the next Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, in June, without excluding the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua,” read a statement by the Puebla Group, reported by Venezuelan news agency AVN.
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According to the Puebla Group, excluding these countries that have weathered the COVID-19 crisis makes no sense, if in the end the management of the pandemic and climate change in the region are the central themes of the summit. Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are among the countries of the western hemisphere with the best results fighting COVID-19, despite the US and European blockade.
“All Latin American countries require international cooperation and economic exchange to be able to bear the social costs and attend to the economic reactivation derived from the pandemic,” the Puebla Group’s statement continued. “Some of them, like Cuba, could even contribute a lot in new experiences for the prevention and eradication of the virus and its possible new variations.”
Similarly, the group stated that the exclusion of these countries would constitute discrimination for ideological reasons, which would have a detrimental effect on the possibilities for regional cooperation required to overcome these crises.
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CELAC echoes demand for inclusivity
For its part, CELAC stated that “it is essential that we overcome ideological divisions and focus on finding coincidences,” due to the serious consequences that the coronavirus pandemic has had for the region.
The regional body asserted its commitment to dialogue and cooperation as key tools to ensure the well being of the peoples of the Americas. For this reason, CELAC considers that this Summit of the Americas “represents a great opportunity to build a meeting space in which all the countries of the hemisphere participate in an open and inclusive manner, under the unifying objective of concerted joint actions.”
CELAC, especially member state Argentina, which holds the pro tempore presidency of the intergovernmental organization, urged the summit’s hosts “to avoid exclusions that prevent all the voices of the hemisphere from dialoguing and being heard.”
Featured image: Photo of some heads of state from the 6th CELAC Summit held in Mexico in 2021. Photo: Mexican Presidential Press.
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Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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