Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
Panama City
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- English
February 23, 2010
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Spanish Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, CELAC ) is a regional association of Latin American and Caribbean countries. The community consists of all sovereign states of America besides Canada and the United States and has a total population of over 550 million people and a total area of more than 20 million square kilometers.
Name
The official of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean countries name is in the four official languages of the Member States:
- Spanish: Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños
- Portuguese: Comunidade de Estados Latino Americanos e Caribenhos
- French: Communauté des États Latino Américaines et Caribéens
- English: Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
History
The founding of CELAC was on 23 February 2010 as part of the 22nd Summit of the Rio Group and the 3rd Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development ( Cumbre de las Américas; CALC) in Playa del Carmen in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo decided. In contrast to the Organization of American States (OAS ), the CELAC consists of all Member States of the OAS except the U.S. and Canada. The desire for a new organization also grew out of the events surrounding the coup in Honduras in 2009, where the U.S. tried to influence the OAS in their favor. CELAC is thus seen as an alternative to the OAS, which was initiated by the United States in 1948, in order to prevent potential Soviet influence in the region. On 28 January 2013 were agreed with the temporary presidency of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM ) take another member of the Führungstroika of CELAC. 2013 Haiti holds the CARICOM presidency.
Founding Summit 2011 in Caracas
The founding meeting of CELAC should take place in the summer of 2011 originally, but was postponed due to a cancer of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on 2 and 3 December 2011 in Caracas, Venezuela. Formally, the CELAC is thus the successor of the Rio Group, founded in 1987.
Attended the Summit 33 leaders participated and adopted an action plan for 2012 and 18 communiqués. The Declaration of Caracas, the CELAC is designed to promote the political, economic, social and cultural integration process.
1 CELAC -EU Summit
On 26 and 27 January 2013, the first CELAC -EU Summit was held in Santiago de Chile. It was about the trade and investment policy. The European Union urged this as a further opening of markets. In contrast, the CEALC countries called for greater control of transnational corporations and social protection mechanisms for the population. A 2nd CELAC - EU summit is planned in 2015.
Second summit
On 28 January 2014, the two-day summit began on the 33 Heads of State and Government participating.
Planned CELAC Summit
- 2015 in Ecuador
- 2016 in Cuba, and
- CELAC one -China Summit.
Organs
- Summit of Heads of State and Government
- Temporary Presidency
- Conference of Foreign Ministers
- Meeting of National Coordinators
- Special meetings
- Führungstroika from 2013: Advanced Führungstroika
- The plan is to establish a Secretariat and a CELAC Parliament
Presidency
CELAC presidency is accepted by the host country for a year and coordinated so in a troika with his next two successors.
Objectives
- Suppression of colonialism
- Curbing the influence of the U.S. in the region
- Reducing social inequalities
- Strengthen South -South cooperation
- Greater say in world affairs