After a visit to Buenos Aires, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva this Wednesday passed through Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, to meet with President Luis Lacalle Pau, who for years has been asking for flexibility in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) bloc in its trade agreements. The leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) is seeking to reactivate the multilateral body amid tensions after Uruguay tried to move forward bilaterally. A free trade agreement with China is possibleWhich in turn caused discomfort in some bloc countries, for example, Argentina.
The president of Brazil is in favor of reaching an agreement between China and Mercosur, as well defended Fernandez. “China is the first trade ally with Brazil, and Brazil has a large surplus with China. We want to discuss the Mercosur China agreement with our Chinese friends,” the Brazilian president said during his visit to Uruguay on Wednesday.
Regarding the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, Lula said it was “urgent and necessary” for the bloc to finalize the pact. “We are going to intensify our discussions with the European Union to sign this agreement and to discuss immediately a possible agreement between China and Mercosur, and I think it is possible.
Louis Lacalle Poe insisted on the need to “open” his country to the world. “Basically I’m trying to do that with all Mercosur. “I think I understand very well that Uruguay is conducting its negotiations and has no restrictions on what it was doing and conducting negotiations,” said the President of Uruguay.
On Wednesday afternoon, Lula da Silva took time out of his schedule to also visit former Uruguayan President Jose “Pepe” Mujica at his farm on the outskirts of Montevideo. Mujica called Lula a leader who rises above political differences. “Lula has shown with the alliance that he is above ideological issues and has an open, pragmatic spirit to deal with enormous difficulties,” the former president said on Wednesday.
Consensus points
Behind the image of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva with both thumbs surrounded by representatives of 33 states and some selfiesThis Tuesday in Buenos Aires, the VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) left a hundred points of consensus and almost a dozen special declarations on the so-called Declaration of Buenos Aires.
By signing this document, states undertake to coordinate actions to ensure Latin America’s central role in food security at the global level as a major net food exporting region. Also, due to its volume in the production of natural resources, the development of a joint environmental protection policy.
33 countries pledged to respect democracy and human rights and guarantee “free, periodic and transparent elections”. The president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, noted the distances and condemned the political situation in some countries of the continent, such as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. “There are clearly countries that do not respect institutions, democracy and human rights,” he said. “Let’s not have a hemiplegic vision according to the ideological profile.”
Chilean President Gabriel Boric has called for the release of “opponents who are still being detained without dignity” in Nicaragua and has also referred to the crisis in Venezuela and called for “free, fair and transparent” elections.
But aside from the underlying political issues, there was the decision of Selac’s administrative order that stood above the rest. For the first time, a Caribbean country will lead the largest regional coordination mechanism in Latin America. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines He assumed the presidency on Tuesday pro tempore from the forumA small island nation consisting of 32 islands and islets, ruled by the same president since 2001 and organized under a parliamentary monarchy system within the Commonwealth of Nations.
Ralph Gonsalves leads the Labor Unity Party and has held the position for over 20 years. In the last election of 2020, he won a fifth consecutive term. St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ relationship with the PetroCaribe program, launched in 2005 by then-President Hugo Chavez to provide Venezuela with oil to the Caribbean at low cost and with easy payment, sheds light on the suspicion with which center-right governments view the Gonçalves region.
Denial of repression in Peru
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not attend the summit, but he made a stand on the crisis in Peru. He did so through a recorded video in which he asked the forum to make a joint statement against the repression in Peru, in which more than 60 people have died since last December in the context of protests against the government of Dina Bolwarte. “We must not abandon the fraternal people of Peru, what they did with Pedro Castillo and the way they repressed the people was shameful,” the Mexican president said in a letter he sent on video at the Celac summit. It was held in Buenos Aires.
But López Obrador stopped there and instead asked for the freedom of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, whom Mexico still recognizes as president. Ana Gervasi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, did not hesitate to respond. Gervasi regretted this Tuesday that in Selac there are countries that “did not accompany Peru” after the attempt of former President Castillo to close the congress. “It is unfortunate that some governments, especially those of neighboring countries, did not accompany Peru in this difficult institutional situation, prioritizing an ideological bond over unequivocal support for the rule of law and constitutional inheritance,” said Peru’s foreign minister.
Castillo was impeached by Congress on December 7 after shutting down Congress, interfering with the judiciary and declaring an emergency government, hours before Congress was to consider impeachment. . The Prosecutor’s Office of Peru started an investigation into the fact of rebellion and sentenced him to 18 months of pretrial detention.
Chilean President Gabriel Borich has insisted Peru needs to “change course” amid “unacceptable” violence in the past month of protests. “We cannot be indifferent when today in our sister Peru, people who are marching and demanding what they think is just, end up shooting the one who is supposed to protect them,” Borich said on Tuesday. However, the Chilean president did not demand Castillo’s release, as demanded by López Obrador, who on Wednesday thanked Borich for his stance on the crisis in Peru.
“My thanks to President Borich of Chile, who addressed this very well in his speech on Tuesday. In this case, it is best to call elections, let the people decide and use the democratic method,” said López Obrador at the daily press conference.
“There is no freedom or dignity outside of democracy,” Borich said. “Democracy must be respected, especially in free elections, when someone with whom I disagree wins, and human rights are a civilized advance that must be respected,” the Chilean president said.
Second on the agenda
In a series of parallel meetings to the summit, Argentina’s Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a two-time president from 2007 to 2015, received the leftist leaders in the Senate in her cabinet on Tuesday. Fernandez de Kirchner held a meeting with the presidents of Bolivia, Colombia and Honduras. The most exciting visit, however, was the one that wasn’t, that of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom the vice president had hoped to interview as part of the meeting.
Fernández de Kirchner met primarily with Bolivian President Luis Ares in the context of severe internal turmoil following the arrest of Santa Cruz governor and one of the main opposition leaders, Luis Fernando Camacho, who was investigating the case. A coup against Evo Morales in 2019. In addition, the open debate in the government between Luis Ares and former President Evo Morales, after his party’s decision on January 14 to expel six deputies from its political space for considering them “traitors”.
A few hours later, Fernandez de Kirchner received Colombian leader Gustavo Petro and Honduran President Xiomara Castro, who will pay an official visit to Spain at the end of February, the Central American country’s ambassador in Madrid said. Marlom told EFE. In short, Reyes.
According to EFE
Source: El Diario
