An ally of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua will have the pro tempore presidency of CELAC

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) now has, following its leaders’ summit in Buenos Aires, an English-speaking president, Ralph Gonzalvesprime minister of the Caribbean island state St. Vincent and the Grenadines, product of intricate and distant negotiations and so on places certain distances with the Southern Cone of the Continent.

Gonsalves, in addition to holding the office of premier, is assigned the portfolios of Foreign Relations, National Security, Legal Affairs and Information. Almost the sum total of powerwhich can be considered logical in a country of 100,000 inhabitants.

But what most attracts attention in his curriculum, where several academic titles stand out, are his close relationships with the most contested presidents of the CELAC members: Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) and Miguel Díaz-Canel (Cuba).

In the Caribbean it is called Grenadian “Little Castro” (referring to Fidel) and his election in the block was strongly opposed, but Argentina strongly supported him. It is that he owed this gesture to the election of Alberto Fernández to the pro tempore presidency, admit diplomatic sources quoted by the ANSA news agency.

When Fernández came to power, he aspired to be secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS) or head of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Finally, he ended up settling for CELAC, a forum discolored by the presence of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba, which sparks strong objections in the northern hemisphere.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has buried CELAC, which has recently taken on new life with the presence of Lula da Silva at the Buenos Aires summit (he was applauded today for this “return”), but Whether in Brasilia or in the Argentine capital, this forum does not seem to be a priority for the upcoming calendars.

In fact, in the declaration of Lula and Fernández after the bilateral summit, article 67 reads “the commitment to start a process of dialogue at the presidential level with the countries of the region towards the relaunch of the Union of Southern Nations (Unasur)” and they instructed their foreign ministers “to make it happen at their level by taking the necessary actions”.

This organization was born in 2008 and began operating in 2011. Its great promoter was the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, accompanied by the strong support of Lula, the late Argentine Néstor Kirchner, the Ecuadorian Rafael Correa and the Bolivian evo Morales.

However, in April 2018 – under the influence of an ideological upheaval and the presence of centre-right national governments – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru have decided to suspend their participation in the organization indefinitely.. Currently the only members of the organization are Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela.

A) Yes, Unasur is practically disintegrated, but Lula is the one who tries to resurrect him the most. And Fernández supports it. That implies, that CELAC would leave the focus of South America. Many analysts are even wondering if there is any room for these two forums running concurrently. The answer seems obvious.

The arrival of a Caribbean leader seems like a sign, but it was also created after the arduous negotiations for Fernández to become president of that bloc, which -although everyone avoids saying it- was thought of as a counter-forum of the Organization of American States (OAS), strongly influenced by Washington. A workhorse that Gonsalves relaunches.

Daniel Ortega, the objected president of Nicaragua, was the one who made the most objections to Fernández at the time and, in order for the Argentine presidency to be accepted, Mexico mediated and the condition was that the premier of the island came to power in the following period. That deal has left Ortega alone, who now applauds the designee alongside Caracas and Havana

The man from Granada adds his fifth consecutive term at the helm of his country, after winning the 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 elections. Another figure that defines him.

With information from ANSA

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