MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Celac supports Argentina's stance regarding Malvinas issue

Lacalle and Abdo took on Díaz-Canel and Maduro on freedom and liberties

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Saturday ratified its support to “the legitimate rights of Argentina in the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the spaces surrounding maritime areas,” it was reported.

In an official statement released by Argentina's headless Foreign Ministry, the interamerican group insisted that ”the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom resume negotiations in order to find, as soon as possible, a peaceful and definitive solution to said dispute, in accordance with resolution 2065 (XX) of the United Nations General Assembly.”

The Palacio San Martín also highlighted Celac's acknowledgement of “the permanent constructive attitude and full disposition of the Argentine Government to achieve, through negotiations, a peaceful and definitive solution to this anachronistic colonial situation on American soil.”

Another highlight of this weekend's Celac Summit was the verbal fight between the Presidents of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and his Cuban colleague Miguel Díaz-Canel, who praised the courage of his people for having withstood a US-led blockade for over six decades, adding that Lacalle was unaware of the reality of things.

”Listen to your people, who collected more than 700,000 signatures against the law that you imposed, and that changed the conditions to adjust fuel prices,” said Díaz-Canel regarding the uruguayan Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC) the opposition intends to have repealed through a referendum.

Lacalle replied that “the president of Cuba uses arguments” that “are not true” and pointed out that in Uruguay “luckily the opposition can gather signatures” and “has democratic means to complain,” something unthinkable in Cuba.

In another heated controversy during the Celac summit, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said speeches from Lacalle and from Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez were sheer “provocation and aggression of President Lacalle, of Uruguay, and of the President of Paraguay, I do not remember his name ... I do not know if that man is known...”.

Abdo Benítez had began his speech at the Celac Summit by ratifying he did not recognize the Maduro government. “My presence at this summit, in no sense or circumstance, represents recognition of the government of Mr. Nicolás Maduro. There is no change in the position of my government and I think it is chivalrous to say it up front.“

Meanwhile, Lacalle had said that his country's participation did not mean being complacent with countries where ”there is no full democracy“ where a repressive apparatus is used to silence protests, opponents are imprisoned and human rights are not respected. ”We must say with concern that we seriously see what is happening in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela,“ Lacalle said.

Maduro considered that ”the summit has been a total success, of union, of consensus and of agreement“ and challened Abdo and Lacalle to debate democracy with him. Then he claimed victory, since both South American leaders remained silent to his defying message.

The Venezuelan head of state also pointed out ”there were very important decisions by consensus“, such as the creation of a space agency for Latin America and the Caribbean, which he described as ”a gigantic step” and insisted on creating a general secretariat for Celac.