Latin America-Caribbean Unity Strengthened with 3rd CELAC Summit

The Third Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), recently held in Costa Rica, was a clear reflection of the new times for the region, where prevail calls for unity with respect for diversity.

Raul Castro Stressed Need to End Blockade for Further Relations with USA

In fact, it was a further step toward integration of the 33 countries in the region, the still to achieve dream of unity of Simon Bolivar.

The conclusion arises from the pronouncements of heads of state and government during the meeting, which was held on 28 and 29 January at the new El Pedregal Event Center, about 10 kilometers west of this capital, San José.

That integrationist will was set in the Political Declaration adopted by the leaders at noon on Thursday 29, the main document outlining the positions of the rulers.

We reaffirm that CELAC is the forum for dialogue and political cooperation par excellence of the 33 countries in the region, in which our unity in diversity is expressed, the common positions and exchange of experiences in many areas, both regional and global, are encouraged, affirm state dignitaries in the document.

We reiterate our commitment to continue working on the basis of consensus, highlighting the multiethnic, multicultural, multinational and diverse Community character in its work; and guide our regional work towards the implementation of actions with regional impact vocation that allow us to find common solutions to common challenges and problems, they add.

That policy will be endorsed in the text reflected in the friendly atmosphere among the leaders said goodbye at the end of the meeting and the transfer of the president pro tempore presidency of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, by his Costa Rican counterpart, Luis Guillermo Solis.

In his speech Correa called to accelerate the process of integration and unity. ‘We have advanced, but we most go faster”, he said.

Correa said that the region is experiencing a new era, leaving behind the era of disunity, with the founding of CELAC on December 3, 2011 in Caracas, Venezuela.

He said it is an imperative to work so that people never get tired of their leaders who are in frequent summits, while, especially the poorest population continue into abysses.

Our people expect us clean hands, concrete solutions, stressed after arguing that the benefits of integration must reach the inhabitants of the countries of the mechanism.

In that sense he reiterated proposals subscribed with President Solis, to advance plans that promote the improvement of the living conditions of the population.

One initiative seeks to eliminate extreme poverty in the short term, for which Correa said the region has sufficient resources.

The fight against poverty was the theme chosen by Costa Rica to the Summit and the need for its eradication was ratified by the leaders, who said that despite the progress achieved there is still a huge challenge in this field.

Common positions were ratified on other important issues for the region, including the demand for the US to end the embargo imposed on Cuba for over 50 years, described by Correa as a criminal prosecution. Cuba’s President Raul Castro, said that ‘Our America has entered a new era and has advanced’.

It developing unity in diversity, the cohesive performance and respect for differences will remain our primary purpose and an unavoidable necessity, because the world’s problems are compounded, he said.

After its founding, the CELAC held its first summit on 27 and 28 January 2013 in Santiago de Chile, and the second, 28 and 29 of that month last year in Havana, Cuba.