CELAC-EU Leaders Meet in Shadow of European Crisis
CELAC-EU Leaders Meet in Shadow of European Crisis
AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth points out that a Latin American agenda is likely to be “overshadowed by Europe's greater problems” during the two-day CELAC-EU Summit in Santiago, Chile.
The first summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and European Union opened Saturday in Santiago, the national capital of Chile, as the European Union has been reeling from the effects of a lasting economic crisis….
Within Latin America, there is less political conflict. Although Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is absent from the first CELAC-EU summit as he is recovering from cancer operation in Cuba, his vision of the region is very much alive and well, according to Analyst Eric Farnsworth with the US-based Council of the Americas.
"CELAC is not following a specific Chavez-mandated agenda, but it certainly has promoted separation between Latin America and North America and so in a general way it is very consistent with Chavez's interests," he said.
Chavez helped establish CELAC at a conference held in the Mexican resort city of Cancun in 2010. He hosted its second summit in Venezuela's capital Caracas in December 2011. However, Farnsworth argues that beyond seeking to be the Organization of American States without the United States and Canada, it is unclear what its aims are.
"It was explicitly designed as an antidote to US and Canadian influence and an alternative to the OAS," Farnsworth said. "But it is not really doing anything the OAS does, including supporting human rights, supporting democratic governance, attempting to build support for economic and trade integration, or a host of other things," he added.
Lacking key infrastructure and direction, its agenda is likely to be overshadowed by Europe's greater problems, he added….
