Lula travels to Colombia to attend CELAC‑EU Summit
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will attend the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) in Santa Marta, Colombia, on Sunday (Nov. 9). It will be the appropriate setting, he said, to discuss US military movements in the Caribbean region and off the coast of Venezuela.
On Tuesday (4), in an interview with international agencies in Belém, Pará state, he said he discussed the matter with US President Donald Trump during their meeting in Malaysia in October. At the time, Lula offered to act as an intermediary between the US and Venezuela.
“The CELAC meeting only makes sense at this point if we're going to discuss the issue of American warships here in Latin American waters. I had the opportunity to talk to President Trump about this issue, telling him that Latin America is a zone of peace,” said Lula.
“We are a zone of peace; we don’t need war here. The problem in Venezuela is a political problem that should be resolved through politics,” he added.
The CELAC-EU summit is taking place at a time of tension in the Caribbean, where the US has sent ground troops, submarines, and military ships. Trump’s administration has bombed vessels in the region, under the justification of combating drug trafficking routes that supply the US.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in turn, argues there are interests in the country’s oil reserves and that military reinforcement in the region is aimed at removing him from power.
The CELAC-EU summit will bring together leaders from the 27 nations of the European Union and the 33 nations of CELAC, focusing on resuming bi-regional dialogue and negotiations on the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union. The meeting continues until Monday (10), but Lula will only participate on the first day and will return to Belém for the opening of the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30).
The president has been in Pará since last Saturday (1), where he inaugurated projects in the capital and visited indigenous villages and traditional communities in the interior of the state. On Thursday (6) and Friday (7), Lula should chair the COP30 leaders’ summit in Belém, an event that precedes the main conference.
Official negotiations between delegates from countries that are signatories to the United Nations climate treaty will take place after the summit, from November 10 to 21. The agenda includes topics such as climate finance, energy transition, adaptation, and biodiversity preservation.
