The XVIII Ibero-American Summit began this Friday in Santo Domingo with the meeting of foreign ministers of the 22 member states, where the Spanish representative, José Manuel Albares, raised the issue of the war in Ukraine despite the fact that it was not one of the issues set out in the meeting agenda.
Albares intends that the final declaration of the summit include some of the proposals presented by Spain, as he explained to the press upon his arrival in the capital of the Dominican Republic accompanying King Felipe VI.
It is a war in Europe, not a European war, which affects the values we share as Ibero-Americans”
“It is a war in Europe, not a European war, which affects the values we share as Ibero-Americans,” Albares said. “We must defend in Ukraine a just peace, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, which respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” “What we want for Ukraine is a just peace,” the minister concluded.
However, the Spanish position clashes against a region where the majority of the government has tried to maintain neutrality in the war in Ukraine. An equidistance that has resulted in questioning the invasion of Ukraine and voting in favor of the UN resolutions against Russia, but without openly criticizing the leader of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin. In addition to refusing to send weapons to Kyiv, as the US asked six countries on the subcontinent that possess Russian-made weapons and ammunition.
The exception has been Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the three countries with authoritarian regimes in Latin America, which are allies of Moscow, as well as Bolivia and El Salvador.
The decisions, resolutions and the final declaration of the summit must be approved by consensus, so that to include any mention of the war in Ukraine there cannot be any country against it.
In this context, except for a last-minute surprise, it is not expected that the Ukrainian leader, Volodímir Zelenski, will intervene telematically in the plenary session of the summit, scheduled for this Saturday, as he has done in most international meetings of allied countries since the Russian invasion occurred in February of last year.
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The official inauguration of the summit will be at seven in the afternoon this Friday, midnight in Spain. The attendance of the Heads of State or Government of 13 of the 22 countries that are part of the Ibero-American community, made up of the 19 Latin American states plus Spain, Portugal and Andorra, has been confirmed.
There are two notable absences: the presidents of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who already had a scheduled visit to China for the same dates. Instead, the presence of the Cuban leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel, is expected. And although the Venezuelan government said that the Chavista president, Nicolás Maduro, would travel to the Dominican Republic, he was ultimately ruled out.
Confirmed attendees include the presidents of Chile and Argentina, Gabriel Boric and Alberto Fernández, as well as the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez.
Yes, Gabriel Boric and Alberto Fernández attend
There are two notable absences: the leaders of Mexico and Brazil, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who already had a scheduled visit to China
On the other hand, the head of Government of Andorra, Xavier Espot, will not attend and the Foreign Minister, Maria Ubach, will do so instead. Andorra hosted the last Ibero-American Summit in 2021, which as a result of the pandemic had to be held mostly online.
Under the motto “Together for a fair and sustainable Ibero-America”, the Ibero-American General Secretariat (Segib), which since last year has been headed by former Chilean Foreign Minister Andrés Allamand, the summit plans to debate and approve four documents, in addition to the final resolution : the Ibero-American Charter of Digital Principles and Rights, the Ibero-American Environmental Charter, a food security action plan and a declaration calling for a more just and inclusive international financial architecture with middle-income countries, such as Latin America.
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