CELAC summit tries focusing on poverty and not Cuba [UPDATED]

1/28/15 – UPDATE: 6 P.M.

The inevitable did occur at Wednesday’s CELAC summit, when Raul Castro took the stage, issuing a clear demand that the United States lift sanctions, especially the economic embargo, as well as relinquishing of the Guantanamo Naval Base that the U.S. currently occupies in the southeastern tip of Cuba.

“The establishment of diplomatic relations is the beginning of a process toward the normalization of relations,” Castro told his colleagues.

However, this breakthrough “won’t be possible as long as there is a blockade, and the territory illegally obtained from Cuba in the base at Guantanamo Bay….”

A total of 33 heads of state are expected to have been in attendance by the time the summit is completed on Thursday.

Castro went on to say, “If these problems aren’t resolved, these diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States will make no sense.”.

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The summit known by its acronym CELAC – The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States – kicked off Wednesday in Costa Rica, focusing on how to rid widespread poverty in the region, as well as questions of sovereignty.

However, organizers are trying to not make the historic talks between Cuba and the U.S. steal all the attention. Officials with the summit said CELAC would not take an official stance as a whole on the reestablishment of ties between the island the U.S., but they do support the process.

SEE ALSO: Helping the homeless, from Ft. Lauderdale to Latin America

An official stance on the reestablishment of diplomacy between both countries and other related topics “are not the main topics” at the Third CELA Summit, Costa Rica’s foreign minister, Manuel Gonzalez, said at a press conference.

Nonetheless, CELAC will make an official declaration in support of the talks between both countries, and Raul Castro already arrived at the Central American country on Tuesday to attend the summit.

“We have right here before us the general transformation of Latin America,” Jose Luis Siguil told the Tico Times of Costa Rica. “We see CELAC as a most important step forward, because it isn’t – as is often thought – the OAS’ [Organization of American States’] competitor.”

Siguil is a member of the Tzuk Kim-Pop, which translates to “Highland Peoples Interwoven.”

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Despite this, it might not come as a surprise that CELAC does have an official stance against the economic embargo the U.S. still holds over Cuba.

Miami’s “El Nuevo Herald” reported that Alejandro Solano, deputy foreign minister of Costa Rica said CELAC condemns the “unilateral blockade” against Cuba.

Unlike the Organization of American State CELAC doesn’t include the United States and Canada.

CELAC not only has goals of economic development, but has a political component as well, as the “Tico Times” goes on to report: “Siguil said the United States’ and Canada’s exclusion from CELAC ‘gives us a perspective of hope’ because the organization would be expected to make key decisions in three fundamental areas, including: ‘reclaiming people’s sovereignty’ over resources and territory; a “new vision of the use of these resources for the common good of Latin America”; and the economy “from a different perspective, because it isn’t about putting the economy at the center of the process, but the economy in terms of society.”

SEE ALSO:  China reinforces trade with Latin America at 2014 CELAC

The summit central topic remains fighting extreme poverty, and runs through Thursday, January 29th.

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