MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Celac emergency summit called off

Castro pledged to keep seeking consensus to solve the region's problems

Given the mixed reactions from regional leaders, Honduras' Foreign Ministry announced that the “hybrid” Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) emergency Summit convened for Jan. 30 was being called off. Xiomara Castro, holding the group's rotating Presidency, had launched the initiative after the tug of war between Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro over the condition under which Colombian deportees were returned from the United States to their native country.

After telling the world that she would fight for the region's dignity, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would not attend the gathering either in person or telematically, perhaps out of fear of ending up recoiling like Petro, who acquiesced to all of Trump's demands, albeit at a cost for Colombians needing to travel to the United States. Sheinbaum's message triggered a barrage of confirmed no-shows, forcing Castro to go back on her steps to avoid further embarrassment.

“In the exercise of the Presidency pro tempore, Honduras regrets that in the case of Haiti and in this humanitarian crisis of migrants, we once again receive the systematic opposition of member countries that have privileged other principles and interests different from those of the unity of the Latin American and Caribbean region as a community,” the Honduran Government said in a statement.

Tegucigalpa also insisted it would keep seeking consensus to solve the problems stemming from Trump's immigration policy while Castro announced a plan to protect migrants in general and particularly Honduran nationals illegally in the US. “Migrants are not criminals, they are human beings and we must treat them as such. Migrating is a human right, not a crime,” she said.

The Celac summit sought to address critical issues such as the humanitarian situation in Haiti and US migration policies. Another subject on the table was Ecuador's storming the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had sought asylum after being convicted of corruption.

After Honduras failed to uphold its appeal, Sheinbaum told reporters it was too soon to speak of a Latin American breakup and underlined that the causes of the cancelation were yet to be known. Last week, Sheinbaum underscored during talks with Presidents Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala and Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the Celac's importance for Latin American unity, particularly as an alternative to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS). In addition, the Celac does not include the United States and Canada. But after Petro's undignified backtracking vis-a-vis Trump, Sheinmabum adjusted her defiant tone. Petro, who is picking up the Celac's rotating presidency from Castro shortly, was among the few who confirmed their presence in Tegucigalpa.