'Let’s Keep Alive Bolivar’s Integration Dream', AMLO Says

Addressing the 21st Summit of Foreign Ministers from the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States (CELAC) on Saturday, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) called for a new political and economic integration that observes the region's history, reality, and particular identities.

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The Summit takes place in commemoration of the 238th anniversary of Simon Bolivar's birthday, who is recognized as the liberator of Latin America due to his revolutionary deeds against the Spanish colonial empire. 

AMLO recognized that the Latin American and the Caribbean (LATAM) integration dream supported by Bolivar continues to be an ideal whose main obstacles have been the regional conservative trends, the ruptures in the liberal movement, and the U.S. predominance on the continent.

"Throughout almost the entire 19th century, we suffered from countless invasions, annexations...Mexico suffered the loss of half of its territory in 1848," AMLO noted. 

"Since that time, the U.S. has not ceased to carry out overt or covert operations against the independent countries located south of the Bravo river," he added.

AMLO highlighted that the influence of the U.S. foreign policy is predominant in LATAM; however, Cuba represents a "special case" since the Cuban Revolution has asserted its independence by politically confronting the U.S. for more than half a century.

"To have resisted 62 years without subjugation is quite a feat... In my opinion, the Cuban people deserve the prize of dignity for their struggle in defense of their country's sovereignty," AMLO stressed.

The Mexican President called for coexistence among all LATAM  countries, highlighting that it was time to convince U.S. governments that a new relationship with LATAM countries is possible. 

Referring to the economic war between the U.S. and China, he supported a balance among countries rather than a hegemony to preserve peace. Likewise, AMLO called for efficiency, the strengthing of the regional market, investment policies, and the protection of the environment to achieve LATAM welfare.

The Mexican President urged to replace the Organization of American States (OAS) for a truly "autonomous organization" since the current multilateral entity has served as a "lackey" for interventionist policies. 

"It is unacceptable the policy of the last two centuries characterized by invasions to put and remove rulers at the superpower's whim. Let's say goodbye to impositions, interference, sanctions, exclusions, blockades."

"Let's apply the principles of non-intervention, self-determination of peoples, and peaceful solutions to disputes," AMLO praised.