Concept in Definition ABC

The term CELAC is the acronym for a supranational body and corresponds to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. This entity is made up of a total of 33 countries, covering the territory from Mexico in the north to Patagonia in the south and the nations of the Caribbean located in the Atlantic Ocean. In terms of population we are talking about a total of about 600 million inhabitants and a geographic area of ​​more than 21 million square kilometers, an area greater than the United States and Canada, the nations that make up North.

The principles of CELAC

CELAC was created in 2010 at a summit that took place in the town of Playa del Carmen in Mexico. The purpose of this body is to establish political, economic and cultural ties between the nations that comprise it.

From a geostrategic point of view, the CELAC space has great potential in the international order and arises from the need to join forces. It must be taken into account that in this territory there are particular circumstances

1) is where there are 40% of the planet's plant and animal species,

2) there is a volume of raw materials of great value for international trade and 3) there is a significant percentage of fresh water available on the planet and great energy potential.

Some of the principles of CELAC are the following: respect for international right, the defense of democracy as a system of government, the equality among its members, respect for human rights and the guarantee of not using the force military.

A new body with a historical legacy

Although CELAC as an entity is relatively recent, it should not be forgotten that a Latin America united was already part of the ideals of the liberators of the nineteenth century, especially Simon Bolivar. Bolívar's objective was to unite efforts and interests to counter the colonialism Spanish of the time or other colonialism that could appear in the future. In a different but comparable way, CELAC was born with the idea of ​​curbing the power of the United States over Latin America, what some call American imperialism.

The countries that make up CELAC have their own sovereignty and their own idiosyncrasies. However, they all share something in common, the colonial past. It is not a remote past but has implications in the present: Spanish, Portuguese and English as official languages ​​in the vast majority of nations, a mixture of similar races and the predominance of Catholicism as religion. In this way, CELAC is not simply the grouping of some nations that are territorially close, but rather represents a shared heritage and legacy.

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