By Federico Rivas Molina and Juan Esteban Lewin, EL PAÍS, Santa Marta, Colombia, November 9, 2025
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
It was a 52-point declaration, designed for every taste. It was an inevitable wager. Getting 58 countries from two continents to agree demanded the evident diplomatic filigree. Over all, it was more than was expected, even though Venezuela and Nicaragua decided at the last minute not to be signers. The fourth summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) closed with a call for the strengthening of multilateralism, veiled criticism of the United States policy against drug trafficking in the Caribbean, defense of “free and transparent elections” without mentioning Venezuela, references to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and a request for the reduction of global “commercial tensions” i.e. Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“58 countries have been able to reach agreement through dialog. That statement demonstrates the importance of multilateral dialog,” said Antonio Costa, President of the European Union. The hosting President, Gustavo Petro, insisted on that idea. “The main message is that we dug more deeply into multi-laterality in our effort to construct common opportunities. With these 52 points, we demonstrated that it’s possible to agree in the terms of our differences,” he said, during the presentation of the document. Uruguay, which will take over the next presidency pro tem, committed itself, through its Foreign Minister, Mario Lubetkin, to prepare a road map “to be able to make progress in practice, and not just in declarations” with the points of the agreement.
Trump’s shadow hovered over the summit. The missile attacks that the Republican President has been launching for two months against motorboats that he accuses of transporting drugs merited special mention in the document. “We addressed the importance of maritime security to regional security in the Caribbean,” states the document, without naming the United States. Trump was also, without being there, in the chapter that refers to commerce, where the blocs argue for “a multilateral rules-based system supported by international law, which would be open, transparent, inclusive, nondiscriminatory, and predictable, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its nucleus.” The text speaks of “commercial tensions” and the need to reduce them “to facilitate international trade and improve access to markets.”
There was also a message to the White House in the chapter on the environment. If Trump denies the existence of climate change, the EU and the CELAC countries have called for the recognition of “the necessity for significant, rapid, and sustained reductions of gases that have greenhouse effect”.
The blocs also called for reform of the United Nations Security Council “to make it more representative”, a longtime aspiration by Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America. And there are references to the war in Gaza, with a defense of the solution by the two states, and a “profound concern about the war going on against Ukraine, which is continuing to cause immense human suffering”. In the chapter dedicated to migration, the blocs agree on “strengthening cooperation in its management, including of deportation procedures,” a reference to President Trump’s policy of expulsion.
The declaration does not name any particular country, but there is a clear intention to target conflicted countries like Venezuela or Nicaragua. “We repeat our unbreakable commitment to democracy, including free, inclusive, transparent, and credible elections,” reads the statement.
Lula was especially tough in his description of the situation in the region. “Latin America and the Caribbean are passing through a profound crisis in its project of integration. Once again, we have turned into a balkanized and divided region, more focused on the exterior than on the interior. Once more we are living under the threats of political extremism, disinformation, and organized crime. As a result, we go through meeting after meeting, full of ideas and initiatives that often never take place. Our summits have turned into empty rituals, with the absence of key regional leaders,” said Brazil’s President.
It was a shot at those who were absent this Sunday. For Latin America, there were only two heavyweight Presidents, the host, Gustavo Petro and Lula himself. Countries like Argentina, Paraguay, El Salvador or Peru sent very low-level representatives or simply stayed away. Countries like Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, and Uruguay were represented by their Foreign Ministers. On the European side, the absence of Commission President Úrsula von der Leyen was the hardest blow to the organization. The most relevant presences were Costa, from the Council, the President of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luis Montenegro, and his match from the Netherlands, Dick Schoof.
In spite of everything, the final document exceeded the organizers’ expectations. In any case, the meeting was also a political message. Co-host Antonio Costa had already warned at the beginning of the summit, “In spite of having countries here with very different ideological orientations, we are able to hold a common position on the most critical questions of the moment,” he said.
Pedro Sánchez had made efforts, along with Lula, to bolster the success of the summit. Both believe that this is the time to strengthen a bilateral alliance among blocs that serve as a wall of objection to Trump’s policies. Also, the advance of far right policies in countries like Argentina with Javier Milei, and Chile, where the surveys are giving the Republican candidate Antonio Kast some possibility of triumph in the first round of the Presidential election next Sunday. In Bolivia, the implosion of Movement to Socialism (MAS) of Evo Morales leaves the left without viable alternatives after twenty years of hegemony. And for a long time now, Venezuela has not been a regional example of the so-called “Socialism for the 21st Century”.
In this fragmented scenario, the gamble on multilateralism is a big challenge. “If the EU-CELAC summit was a political priority two years ago, today it’s a geo-strategic imperative,” said Sánchez, referring to the meeting that took place in Brussels in 2023 where the majority of the leading regional officials of both blocs attended. “The challenges we are facing—the violations of international law in Gaza or Ukraine, the attacks on free trade, the weakening of global governance—affect all of us. Europe and Latin America must be a beacon of stability, prosperity, and openness in these uncertain times so full of risk,” said the Spanish President.
The idea of a beacon was recurring. Besides Sánchez, it was used by Petro in his opening address. Costa talked about sending “a signal” from Santa Marta. All the turns of phrase were very much in tune with a summit celebrated on the shores of the Caribbean.