The IV EU-CELAC Summit in Santa Marta, Colombia, had very few predictions of being anything other than a decaffeinated meeting. In fact, the very low attendance of heads of state and the early departure of some of the attendees meant the summit ended this Sunday, when it was scheduled to extend until tomorrow Monday. One must start from the basis that the integrationist vocation among Latin American countries is quite eroded. It is very far from the moment when CELAC entered the scene at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, with the progressive, left-leaning bloc as the great protagonist back then.
The postponement of the Summit of the Americas was a clear signal that it is a time of disunity more than consensus in the region, especially due to the stance of countries like Argentina and Paraguay, willingly subject to Washington's dictate, and the pressure that the latter is exerting against Cuba, Venezuela, and the hosting state itself. Thus, deliberations to approve the Santa Marta Declaration were delayed longer than expected, as community sources confided to the Spanish agency EFE, and, in the end, it did not have solid consensus.
For example, Argentina and Paraguay disassociated themselves from several paragraphs targeting the conflict in Gaza or the 2030 agenda. Ecuador, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Paraguay disassociated themselves from the condemnation of US sanctions against Cuba. Venezuela, not finding a firm, explicit condemnation of the US War Department's attacks in the Caribbean in the declaration text, withdrew from it, and some reliable media outlets—though not the document itself—report that Nicaragua did as well.
SourceRegional news brief
In a scandalous, or rather appalling, event, 27 inmates were found dead from asphyxiation this Sunday in a prison in the coastal province of El Oro, Ecuador. Early, in the same penitentiary, located in Machala, the provincial capital, four inmates died and more than thirty were injured during a reorganization move, according to the state agency in charge of administering the prisons, which are largely intervened by the Army. Do we have a failed state here?
Meanwhile, in Colombia, violence continues to show worrying signs of escalation in recent days as well. Yesterday, another social leader was killed in the municipality of Nariño, Antioquia, raising the number of activists killed by hitmen this year to 163. The massacre of three people—again in Antioquia—, including a youth leader, in a commercial establishment, and the murder of two police officers are also reported. Finally, five soldiers were abducted by—it is alleged—a structure of the National Liberation Army in a department bordering Venezuela.
This is all for today’s report. It was updated to reflect the breaking news of the 27 inmates found dead in Machala, Ecuador.
Sending you some Ecency curation votes!