Leaders desert EU-CELAC summit in Colombia marked by new US pressure on Latin America

Brussels – Only 12 leaders out of 60, and the latest defection of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. These are the pitiless numbers that downgrade a summit—the one between the 27 EU countries and the 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries of CELAC—loaded with expectations. Although Brussels says that von der Leyen (who is already in South America, in Belém, Brazil, for the COP30) has renounced the stop in Colombia because of the “poor attendance of Heads of State and Government,”, the shadow that is stretching over the summit is that of the United States, of its renewed pressure on the continent and the inevitable friction on the delicate subject. 

Last time, in Brussels, in July 2023, almost everyone was there: the first EU-CELAC summit in eight years was being celebrated, and Ursula von der Leyen was playing on home turf to continue the negotiations that a year later would lead to the closing of the trade agreement with the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay). On Sunday, 9 November, in Santa Marta, Colombia, Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, will be there, while von der Leyen asked the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, to attend in her place.

Bogotá has confirmed the participation of 12 heads of state and government, six vice presidents, and 23 foreign ministers. From the old continent, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro will arrive, linked by historical, linguistic, and commercial ties with Latin America. There will be the Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Dick Schoof, and that of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic. Missing from the list, among many others, are German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and French President Emmanuel Macron. And even among the 33 of CELAC, there are important defections: Javier Milei, president of Argentina, will not be there, nor Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico. 

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will be there. He has made it known that he will not fail to express “regional solidarity” with Venezuela: the authoritarian regime of Nicolas Maduro is increasingly openly threatened by the United States, which in September undertook some military manoeuvres in the waters of the Caribbean Sea opposite Caracas. The Brazilian Foreign Minister, Mauro Vieira, explained from Belém that this is “the position of our foreign policy,” namely that “Latin America and, above all, South America, in which we find ourselves, is a region of peace and cooperation.”

 Washington’s renewed aggression towards what, two hundred years ago, was called the United States’ “backyard” is not limited to Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest oil deposits, but also affects Colombia and its president, Gustavo Petro, who will preside over the summit. Just a fortnight ago, Donald Trump accused the Colombian president of being “the leader of drug traffickers” and announced the halt of all US aid to the country.

It is in this context that discussions on energy and digital transition, cooperation, and trade integration inevitably risk taking a back seat. Although European chancelleries have justified the leaders’ absences by outlining November’s busy agenda (in addition to COP30 in Brazil, there will then be the G20 in South Africa and the EU-African Union summit in Angola), the fear of being in the uncomfortable position of having to publicly condemn the US administration may have played its part. On the other hand, even if the European Commission itself recalled that “EU-CELAC relations are very important in this context of geopolitical challenges and divisions,” it is pointless to ask the EU to choose between the US and any other partner in the world. 

On closer inspection, Latin American countries themselves might not choose the EU if faced with the same question. Sheinbaum’s absence, for example, shows that Mexico’s priority, rather than deepening relations with the twelve-star club, is to renegotiate tariffs with the United States, the destination of more than 80 per cent of the country’s exports. It is precisely against this backdrop of “geopolitical challenges and divisions” that everyone—especially the smaller players, such as the EU and Latin America—is pledging themselves in marriage but is ready to tie themselves to the big powers. It was in this context that last May, the fourth forum between the 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries and China was held in Beijing in the presence of Xi Jinping.