Lula participates in Celac meeting; tension in the Caribbean and cooperation will be central points

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva arrived this Sunday (9) in Santa Marta, Colombia, where he is participating in the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and the European Union (EU).

The summit brings together leaders from the 27 countries of the European Union and the 33 CELAC nations, with a focus on resuming dialogue between the regions and negotiations on the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. This is the fourth edition of the meeting between Celac and the EU and the tenth between the two regions since 1999.

The meeting continues until Monday (10), but Lula only participates in the first day of the meeting and returns to Belém (PA) for the opening of the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30).

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This year, the summit gains special weight due to the context of attacks by the United States on Venezuela and Colombia, through the bombing of vessels in the Caribbean seas, and the sending of ground troops, submarines and military ships, under the claim that they are supposedly fighting drug trafficking.

“The Celac meeting only makes sense at this moment if we are going to discuss this issue of American warships here in the seas of Latin America. I had the opportunity to talk to the president [Donald] Trump on this subject, telling him that Latin America is a zone of peace,” said Lula in an interview last week.

On the occasion, the president also highlighted that “we are a zone of peace, we don’t need war here. The problem that exists in Venezuela is a political problem that must be resolved through politics.”

Expectations

The expectation is that, during the event, the so-called “Declaration of Santa Marta” and the “Road Map 2025-2027” will be consolidated, instruments that aim to convert the bi-regional dialogue into concrete actions and guide the implementation of priorities between the two regions.

This document should cover topics such as trade and investments, climate, environment, energy transition, citizen security, combating transnational organized crime, food and nutritional security, health self-sufficiency, social inclusion, care, education and research, migration and mobility, cultural relations and digital transition.

During the meeting, two declarations of free membership will also be presented — that is, they are not mandatory for all countries participating in the summit. One of them will deal with citizen security and the other with care policy.

“We are diverse in Latin America, but we face common challenges, and citizen security is the topic on everyone’s lips these days. Care policy, in turn, is a very important agenda for the Brazilian government, focused on caring for the most vulnerable”, said the Secretary of Latin America and the Caribbean at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gisela Padovan, in a press conference on the topic, held on Thursday (6).