Havana, (EFE).- The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, announced this Sunday his immediate departure for Argentina to participate in the “essential” VII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac).
In brief statements published on social networks, he confirmed his participation in the multilateral meeting, after days of speculation about his presence and that of the presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela, Daniel Ortega and Nicolás Maduro, respectively.
After years of differences in the forum regarding the participation of these three countries -since they are not liberal democracies-, some voices have questioned their presence in Buenos Aires, despite the invitation extended by the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández.
“Let’s go because on January 24 the VII Summit of the indispensable Celac will meet in the endearing Buenos Aires,” said the Cuban president in the video message.
Díaz-Canel described the forum as an “integration mechanism that we have the duty and the opportunity to revitalize.”
The days prior to the meeting have been marked both by the possible attendance of the presidents of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba, as well as by the return to the forum in Brazil at the hands of its recently appointed president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The Cuban president added that Celac should promote internal coordination despite the differences between countries.
“We aspire that unity in diversity, a key principle that we share, allows us to act as a solid regional family to promote and project Latin America and the Caribbean in the discussion of the global agenda,” he said.
Díaz-Canel announced that he will return to Cuba on January 27, when the evening prior to the 170th anniversary of the birth of the country’s hero, José Martí, is celebrated on the island.