ASTRID SUAREZ
BOGOTA (AP) — Countries from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean are meeting Sunday in a Caribbean city in Colombia in an attempt to strengthen ties even as the region is divided on the issue US military deployment in Caribbean waters.
Colombia expects it to push for a declaration in Santa Marta, the city of meetings, on renewable energy, food security, finance and technology cooperation that will close the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union on Monday.
Part of the conversation leading up to the summit centered on the absence of heads of state and senior figures such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Colombia's Foreign Ministry said there were problems with the agenda given that it overlaps with COP30, which is taking place in Brazil, and highlighted the presence of other presidents such as Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Spain's Pedro Sánchez.
“We have not yet seen significant concrete results from previous CELAC-EU summits, and this summit is unlikely to break that trend, especially given the absence of many heads of state,” Alexander Main, director of international policy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), told The Associated Press.
However, Main believes the presence of politically oriented leaders will spark debate on issues that might otherwise be considered too controversial.
“The unprecedented US military deployment in the Caribbean and deadly naval strikes will be a topic of debate, although many European leaders choose to ignore it to avoid escalating tensions with the United States,” Main said. “This is clearly a priority for several regional leaders” such as Lula and President Gustavo Petro.
Main noted that with the postponement of this year's Summit of the Americas, CELAC-EU will be the only high-level multilateral summit held in the region before the end of the year, so it may be easier for governments to address the core issue of military deployment frankly, given that the United States is not participating in the summit.
Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, has maintained open tensions with Donald Trump's government after several disagreements over anti-immigration and drug policies, most recently over sanctions imposed on him and his family by the Ministry of Finance American, without evidence, indicating an alleged connection with drug trafficking.
Added to this is Petro's criticism of deadly attacks on small vessels that the United States accuses of carrying drug shipments and their drug-smuggling crews. Petro considered this disproportionate and called it “murders” and “extrajudicial killings.”
“Colombia has a responsibility to CELAC and the region to ensure that this event is a success. Bringing up sensitive issues related to the United States will lead to the failure of the summit. I believe the Colombian government knows all the costs and benefits, and any statement on this issue will fail,” David Castrillon Kerrigan, a research professor of international relations at the Universidad Externado of Colombia, told the AP.
Petro, who has sought to demonstrate to the United States that it will expand its ties with the rest of the world and ensure it does not kneel, could make clear at this summit that the country and its president are not isolated, despite sanctions, with the potential of countries in the region and Europe, Castrillon pointed out.
