Costa Rica News – The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) had a two-day summit that concluded this week, without any major changes made, except for establishing China as an incoming political and business player.
The meeting took place in Cuba and included 33 sovereign nations. One of CELAC’s objectives is to decrease US influence in the Latin America and Caribbean region. By approaching China, some dependency on the US can be decreased. The Chinese already have a presence in the Western Hemisphere, namely in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto exchanged visits. The Chinese leader also visited Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago. Chinese companies are constructing in many parts of the world. They recently made a multi-billion dollar tourism complex in the Bahamas and invested greatly in Argentina.
Besides establishing the relationship with China, the summit was unsurprising. The group stated its support to Argentina’s claim on the Malvinas/Falklands Islands. CELAC’s backing of Argentina will likely have zero effect on London to cede control back to Argentina after so much time has passed. In other news from the summit, Costa Rica is the temporary president of the CELAC organization. Hopefully, its international image can help to unite the 33 member nations of CELAC.
