South American Presidents: Summit in Brasilia
We picked this up under the previous CELAC summit. Though this is not a CELAC summit it would be the first time that most of these leaders are together again after the previous CELAC summit. Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira clarified that this summit is not a meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). However, he explained that Lula da Silva decided to call this summit to revalue and retake the regional integration processes. I’m sure that there will be an overflow of CELAC and UNASUR work at this summit. The meeting brings together the leaders of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Lula da Silva wants to follow a regional integration model. He brings back the South American integration policy, after 4 years of absence, useless polemics, and Bolsonaro’s attacks on neighbors.
Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela arrived on Sunday already, but he is so threatened, that he is not doing any public appearances. For this reason, he did not attend the previous CELAC summit. This was the first time in +- 8 years that he visited Brazil, as Bolsonaro (previous Brazilian president) followed US policy on Venezuela. Maduro stated in one of the early meetings that he wants to join BRICS and it was agreed that Lula will support Venezuela, and Lula stated that he dreams about a local regional currency.
President Dina Boluarte will not take part in the summit due to the ongoing political crisis in Peru. That is besides the fact that she is almost shunned by the other leaders, being a coup government in Peru currently.
Besides speeches, the main event is “Dialogue between Presidents,” which is expected to be a very focused discussion.
We hope Lula can bring focus to this discussion. It remains to be seen if this is a summit for a summit’s sake, or a talk shop. It truly is a mix of Western stooges and countries looking for multipolarity.
Pepe Escobar mentioned on his twitter that the US is sending troops to Peru. Ostensibly, to beat the bad guys, not for the lithium, of course.