Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

Community of Latin American and Caribbean States CELAC
Logo of the CELAC
Member States
English name	Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
French name	Communauté des États Latino-Américains et Caribéens
Spanish name	Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños
Organization type	regional political cooperation
Seat of the organs	Panama City
Member States	33
Official and working languages	Spanish Portuguese French English Dutch
surface	20,413,300 km²
population	591,038,580 (2011)
Population density	29 inhabitants per km²
founding	February 23, 2010
celac.rree.gob.sv

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States ( Spanish Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños , CELAC ) is a regional association of Latin American and Caribbean countries. The community consists of all sovereign states of America except Canada and the United States and has a total population of over 550 million people and a total area of ​​more than 20 million square kilometers.

Names

The official name of the community of Latin American and Caribbean countries in the five official languages ​​of the member states is:

• Spanish : Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (56% of the area, 63% of the population)
• Portuguese : Comunidade de Estados Latino-Americanos e Caribenhos (42% of the area, 34% of the population)
• French : Communauté des États Latino-Américains et Caribéens (0.1% of the area, 1.6% of the population)
• English : Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (1.3% of the area, 1.1% of the population)
• Dutch : Gemeenschap van Latijns-Amerikaanse en Caraïbische Staten (0.8% of the area, 0.1% of the population)

history

CELAC was founded on February 23, 2010 as part of the 22nd Summit of the Rio Group and the 3rd Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development (Cumbre de las Américas; CALC) in Playa del Carmen in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo decided. In contrast to the Organization of American States (OAS), the CELAC consists of all member states of the OAS except the USA and Canada . The desire for a new organization also grew out of the events surrounding the coup in Honduras in 2009 , when the US tried to influence the OAS in their favor. The CELAC is thus seen as an alternative to the OAS, which was initiated by the USA in 1948 in order to prevent potential Soviet influence in the region. On January 28, 2013, it was decided to include another member in the leadership troika of CELAC with the temporary presidency of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In 2013, Haiti holds the CARICOM presidency.

Founding summit 2011 in Caracas

Heads of State and Government during the founding summit of CELAC

The founding meeting of CELAC was originally supposed to take place in summer 2011, but was postponed to December 2nd and 3rd, 2011 in Caracas , Venezuela due to cancer of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at the time . Formally, CELAC is thus the successor to the Rio group founded in 1987 .

33 heads of state or government attended the summit and adopted an action plan for 2012 and 18 communiqués. With the Declaration of Caracas , CELAC is supposed to promote the political, economic, social and cultural integration process.

More peaks

• 2nd summit on 28/29 January 2014 in Havana , Cuba
• 3rd summit 28/29 January 2015 in San José , Costa Rica
• 4th summit meeting 26./27. January 2016 in Quito , Ecuador
• 5th summit meeting 24./25. January 2017 in Punta Cana , Dominican Republic

organs

• Summit of the heads of state and government
• Temporary presidency
• Conference of Foreign Ministers
• Conference of National Coordinators
• Special gatherings
• Leadership troika, from 2013: Extended leadership troika
• The establishment of a general secretariat and a CELAC parliament is planned

Presidency

The CELAC presidency is assumed by the host country for one year at a time and coordinates with its next two successors in a troika.

	country	Period
1.	Venezuela	2-3 December 2011
2.	Chile	December 4, 2011–27. January 2013
3.	Cuba	January 28, 2013–27. January 2014
4th	Costa Rica	since January 28, 2014
5.	Ecuador	from the end of January 2015
6th	Dominican Republic	from the end of January 2016
7th	El Salvador	from the end of January 2017

aims

• Pushing back colonialism
• Curb US influence in the region
• Reducing social inequalities
• Strengthening South-South cooperation
• Greater say in international issues

Members

Country	population	Land area	Ocean surface	Official language	Capital
Antigua and Barbuda	87,883	443 km²	114,217 km²	English	Saint John
Argentina	40.091.359	2,780,400 km²	2,015,409 km²	Spanish	Buenos Aires
Bahamas	301,790	13,940 km²	761,038 km²	English	Nassau
Barbados	279.912	431 km²	187,324 km²	English	Bridgetown
Belize	372,000	22,966 km²	48,529 km²	English	Belmopan
Bolivia	10,426,160	1,098,581 km²	0 km²	Spanish	Sucre and La Paz
Brazil	202,740,000	8,514,877 km²	4,435,518 km²	Portuguese	Brasília
Chile	17.094.275	756,096.3 km²	3,928,226 km²	Spanish	Santiago de Chile
Costa Rica	4,579,000	51,100 km²	594,310 km²	Spanish	San Jose
Dominica	69,278	754 km²	29,644 km²	English	Roseau
Dominican Republic	10,090,000	48,442 km²	266,636 km²	Spanish	Santo Domingo
Ecuador	14,306,876	283,561 km²	1,118,265 km²	Spanish	Quito
El Salvador	5,744,113	21,041 km²	107,814 km²	Spanish	San Salvador
Grenada	89.502	344 km²	29,663 km²	English	St. George's
Guatemala	14,700,000	108,889 km²	128,592 km²	Spanish	Guatemala City
Guyana	759,000	214,970 km²	188,343 km²	English	Georgetown
Haiti	9,800,000	27,750 km²	133,443 km²	French	Port-au-Prince
Honduras	7,793,000	112,492 km²	318,260 km²	Spanish	Tegucigalpa
Jamaica	2,735,520	10,991 km²	267,939 km²	English	Kingston
Colombia	45,656,937	1,141,748 km²	861,849 km²	Spanish	Bogotá
Cuba	11,242,621	110,860 km²	412,276 km²	Spanish	Havana
Mexico	112,322,757	1,972,550 km²	3,596,695 km²	Spanish	Mexico city
Nicaragua	5,465,100	129,494 km²	194,755 km²	Spanish	Managua
Panama	3,405,813	78,200 km²	389,050 km²	Spanish	Panama City
Paraguay	7,030,917	406,752 km²	0 km²	Spanish	Asunción
Peru	29,885,340	1,285,215.6 km²	897,915 km²	Spanish	Lima
St. Lucia	160.145	616 km²	16,161 km²	English	Castries
St. Kitts and Nevis	38,950	261 km²	10,627 km²	English	Basseterre
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	104,000	389 km²	37,863 km²	English	Kingstown
Suriname	526,000	163,270 km²	181,403 km²	Dutch	Paramaribo
Trinidad and Tobago	1,299,953	5,128 km²	99,483 km²	English	Port of Spain
Uruguay	3,424,595	176,215 km²	217,493 km²	Spanish	Montevideo
Venezuela	30.102.382	916,445 km²	1,328,716 km²	Spanish	Caracas

Twelve countries are in South America, which make up 87% of the area and 68% of the population.

Transcontinental meetings and collaboration

Heads of State and Government during the 1st CELAC-EU Summit 2013 in Santiago de Chile

CELAC-EU summit

→ Main article : EU-Latin America summit

The EU-Latin America summit, which has taken place every two years since 1999, will be continued as the CELAC-EU summit after CELAC was constituted:

• 1st CELAC-EU Summit = VII. EU-Latin America Summit, on January 26th and 27th, 2013 in Santiago de Chile
• 2nd CELAC-EU Summit = 8th EU-Latin America Summit, on May 10th and 11th, 2015 in Brussels

Corresponding meetings were held at foreign ministerial level in 2016 and 2018.

CELAC-China Summit

Under the motto "New platform, new starting point and new opportunity - Together for a comprehensive cooperative partnership between China, Latin America and the Caribbean" took place on 8./9. January 2015 a joint summit of all 33 countries and the PR China took place in Beijing . China will therefore invest around US $ 250 billion in Central and South America and the Caribbean in the coming decade, which should double the mutual trade volume to half a trillion US dollars. If the Chinese investments in the partner region, as promised by Xi Jinping , are implemented, China alone will in future grant more loans in the region than the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank together. A cooperation plan is currently being drawn up; if realized, the current pattern of trade will change so that fewer raw materials are shipped to China and more processed products are shipped instead. In return, China will invest in the infrastructure in South and Central America.

See also

• List of member states of American organizations
• List of supranational and intergovernmental alliances

Web links

Commons : Community of Latin American and Caribbean States  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• The EU's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean (European External Action Service)
• Berliner Umschau: Documentation: Final declaration of the CELAC summit in Caracas ( Memento from January 17, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Presidents Agree to Create Community of Latin American and Caribbean States ( Memento of April 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Mexidata , March 1, 2010;
   http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2010/02/23/paso-historico-acuerdan-crear-la-comunidad-de-estados-latinoamericanos-y-caribenos/#.XsbEn8bgrys
2. ^ Mark Weisbrot : What Manuel Zelaya's return means for Honduras , The Guardian , May 28, 2011.
3. ↑ Mexico Gives Birth to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , MercoPress , February 24, 2010;
   Ginger Thompson, Alexei Barrionuevo: Quake Overshadows Clinton Tour of Region , New York Times , February 28, 2010;
   Cancilleres del Grupo de Río avanzaron en idea de crear nueva instancia regional ( Memento of February 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), Granma , February 21, 2010.
4. ^ Presidentes constituyen la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños ( Memento of March 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), EFE , February 23, 2010.
5. ^ Founding summit of CELAC in Caracas: America Alliance without the USA and Canada ( Memento from December 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de, December 3, 2011 (accessed on December 3, 2011).
6. ↑ Latin America and Caribbean Summit started in Havana , accessed June 10, 2015.
7. ↑ Agenda de la III Cumbre de jefes de estado y de gobierno de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños ( Memento of June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 10, 2015.
8. ↑ Cancilleres de Costa Rica y Ecuador preparan traspaso de la Presidencia Pro Tempore de la CELAC ( Memento from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 10, 2015.
9. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ United without Washington at jungewelt.de, December 3, 2011 (accessed December 3, 2011).