Contrary to what most headlines suggested, and to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s claim that it’s the most important thing to have happened in Latin America in the past 100 years, the new group of 33 Latin American and Caribbean states created at a Dec 3 summit in Venezuela will hardly make it into history books.
The newly created Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was officially launched in Caracas, Venezuela, at a summit attended by most of the region’s heads of state. The new group aims to work on economic and political integration, as well as to adopt joint stands in global affairs, without the presence of the United States or Europe.
According to Chávez, “a giant was born,” and it will eventually replace the Washington-based Organization of American States as the hemisphere’s main diplomatic institution. Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa, a Chávez disciple whose crackdown on independent media was
