<h1>APROSIMA</h1>

The United Nations Secretary-General's statement that "We have failed" was revealing, referring to the results, so far, of efforts to achieve the goals of reducing the average global temperature, set at the 2015 Paris meeting.

Unfortunately, not only has the goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels, the main cause of global warming, not been met, but year after year, their production continues to increase. While approximately 90 million barrels per day were produced in 2015, that figure has now reached more than 105 million, and OPEC expects it to reach 106.5 million, representing an 18% increase. For its part, the International Energy Agency estimates that oil production will continue to rise until 2050.

This will accelerate climate change and its trail of disasters, already experienced by almost every country in our region, which will be even greater in number and devastation.

UNITED STATES AND VENEZUELA

The current global oil market presents a significant challenge for the United States, which possesses approximately 70 billion barrels of reserves. With a production rate of 13 million barrels per day, these reserves would be depleted in just 14 years. If the US relied solely on its reserves to sustain its consumption, they would only last for nine and a half years. However, if the US were to exploit Guyanese oil, whose reserves total 11 billion barrels, this would guarantee approximately two more years of consumption.

This is a very serious strategic situation for a nation that aspires to global leadership.

Certainly, from an imperial perspective, it is strategically essential for the United States to gain control of Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world, even through military intervention, as is being predicted.

If this were to happen, it would be fatal for the political and economic stability of South America, a region with over 400 million inhabitants, most of whom are staunch defenders of their countries' sovereignty. This would bring about profound changes in societies, not necessarily for the better.

We cannot continue to view reality through the lens of the 20th century, the bloodiest in history. To label us a backyard would be a grave mistake. We are not living in the times of Pinochet and Videla. Latin American and Caribbean societies have made significant progress in their political conceptions and practices. It has been a long time since the last successful military coup that held power. Although "legal" political coups still occur, their poor results point to the eventual disappearance of such practices.

Our leaders in the region must internalize these advances and defend them, acting in accordance with the thoughts and needs of their people: prosperity and peace. They must take the right actions to address the challenges of climate change and confront any attempt to drag us back to the shameful episodes of violence of the past.

Regardless of any political or ideological stance, the unity of our nations in taking practical and effective actions to achieve these goals is the only way forward.

Editorial August 15 2025

LET'S PREVENT A NEW DARK AGE

The recent measures taken by the current US administration aim to lead humanity into a new dark age, as demonstrated by, among others, the cuts in funding for vaccine research, the recent executive order stripping scientists of control over federal research grants in order to replace scientific merit with ideological loyalty, the ban on sharing satellite climate data, and the sabotage of recent environmental initiatives, such as the one taken against COP30 and the recent conference to reduce plastic production.

With these actions, the Trump administration is seeking to hide scientific data to minimize the consequences of the increase in climate change. In other words, to deny science when it affects their interests, just as they did during their time with Galileo.

THE NEW BIG STICK

But this historical regression is not limited to the natural scientific realm; it also seeks to destroy international law and the structures that present themselves as an obstacle to its interests.

Our region is no exception to this historical regression. With the new version of Theodore Roosevelt's "Big Stick," using the weapon of economic sanctions and tariffs to subject our peoples to imperial designs. They have even gone so far as to prepare military interventions in Caribbean countries under the farcical excuse of combating drug trafficking, blatantly violating the progress made in sovereignty and ignoring the principle of self-determination of peoples, as established in the United Nations Charter.

In this regard, it is worth mentioning the statement by the Venezuelan Minister of Defense, who explained that the United States has always fabricated lies before each intervention.

In reality, these falsehoods, such as the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq, or the need to drop atomic bombs on Japan to "protect its soldiers," or the "Cartel of the Suns" in Venezuela, are not intended to persuade the international community; they are fabricated to convince their citizens of the righteousness of these actions. Let us remember that the majority of the American people profess the Protestant religion, and one of their central tenets is that each individual is directly responsible to God for their conduct. Therefore, for that country's leadership, it is necessary to manipulate this principle, creating a convincing narrative that will garner support for their actions among its citizens.

To make them more credible, they need the support of other nations or organizations, as we saw in the case of Iraq and the position of the "Arab Coalition." They intend to repeat the same thing with Venezuela. To this end, the Secretary of State announced that a coalition of countries on the continent, including Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Paraguay, and Argentina, supported their actions. It doesn't matter that they represent a tiny part of our region; in the end, the bulk of the North American population is unaware of the scale of our nations, and they will think that this coalition represents the majority.

This leads to two basic conclusions: 1) It's very easy to know what their next military objectives will be; just look at the arguments they put forward; and 2) The way to prevent this is to generate a matrix of opinion within that country with solid arguments and compelling evidence that dismantles such fallacies, even using their own media and social networks. Demonstrations, protests, declarations, etc., while necessary, since they don't permeate North American society, they are of little use in effectively countering threats.

INVALUABLE TIME WASTED

The truth is that Latin Americans and Caribbeans do not have regional political structures that defend us vigorously and effectively internationally. And there has been no shortage of opportunities. In recent decades, our people have handed over their governments to numerous leaders who presented themselves as progressive and integrationist. But what they have done to achieve unity among our nations to confront reality: NOTHING, SIMPLY AND PLAINLY, NOTHING. They have miserably wasted time and betrayed the hopes of our region. We saw, for example, how, due to Brazil's oil interests in that region, the crucial summit on the Amazon failed miserably.

And even worse, in these moments of uncertainty, opportunistic positions emerge, such as that of Lula, who, in collusion with the United States government-and we have no doubt about it-blocked Venezuela's entry into the BRICS, knowing that it would deprive it of a powerful and necessary ally in the face of the US military threat.

Editorial July 15 2025

WHEN A THREAT IS GOOD NEWS

The recent threat by the United States government to withdraw from the OEA if its orders were not fo-llowed raises the need to open a discussion about the role that organization should play in the face of the new realities facing the region.

Its founding in 1948 was promoted by the United States as a way to tie the nations of the continent to the Western powers' chariot, given the rise of the Cold War. This role reached its climax when all its members agreed, at the Punta del Este conference of foreign ministers, to exclude Cuba, then an ally of the socialist bloc.

THE OEA, PIVOT OF DOMINATION

But from its inception, this organization also served to guarantee North American domination over the entire region, which at first was not so marked eco-nomically thanks to the threat of the Soviet bloc, which acted as a brake and allowed some auto-nomy to our countries. This, among other things, facilitated a certain industrial development of com-panies with local capital, although limited solely to the national market by the so-called import substitu-tion policy.

That panorama changed with the end of the Cold War when, once the specter of the socialist bloc had been dispelled, the Western powers, with the support of local agents and organizations like the OEA, set out to place our economies under their iron control, inventing an ideological monstrosity that served as a "scientific" basis, dubbed "neolibe-ralism." This allowed them to justify taking a series of measures that, among other things, ended up dynamiting that industrial development, minimizing competition for their industries and preventing local industries with capitalizable profits that would allow them to grow.

In the end, our nations ended up with dependent economies based fundamentally on agriculture, mining, and tourism, thus returning us to a model similar to that prevailing in the colony. In Venezue-la, for example, renowned industrial companies such as Savoy, Pampero, La Monserratina, Torre del Oro, and hundreds more were wiped out, either due to unfair competition, primarily from China, as a result of the so-called "opening of markets," or were absorbed by large transnational corporations under the euphemism of "foreign investment."

All of this has resulted in tremendous economic imbalances in our societies, impoverishing our po-pulations, both relatively and absolutely, causing serious social tensions and conflicts in the last thirty years, huge masses of emigrants, as well as a sys-tematic alternation of governments between so-called progressive and right-wing governments, a product of each of their inability to resolve social problems. The aggravating factor is that this same inability is dangerously and increasingly leading to the emergence of fascist behavior.

THE PEOPLE ARE IMPOSING A NEW REALITY

Faced with this imperial policy of domination, more and more people are electing governments that uphold the banners of economic and social development. This has led to the emergence of a real conflict of interest within the OEA between them and the great American power. This has resulted in a near-paralysis of its functioning, transforming it into a veritable phantasm, acting like a cart pulled by opposing teams of oxen. The rude, threatening behavior of the United States and the recent elections of its leaders are the epitome of this conflict of interest.

Given the inconsistent conduct of the Trump administration in international affairs, we doubt that this threat will be carried out, but this fact presents us with an opportunity to reflect on the urgent need for a solid regional organization that will successfully confront the serious challenges facing us, including the dire consequences of climate change.

The current OEA is definitely not one of them. But if neither the United States nor Canada were present, it could fulfill that role, taking advantage of the immense advantage of having a functioning structure and bureaucracy (the Pan American Health Organization, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, etc.).

If that doesn't happen, an organization must be established to do so. For this to be successful, in addition to taking steps toward that end, we must build our own political and economic theory, like the ones the United States, the EU, Russia, China, etc. have, which have set our course since the last century.

Editorial May 15 2025

HARD REALITIES THAT THREATEN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

The consequences of climate change in our region go beyond the terrible natural disasters we have recently observed, such as those in Valparaíso, Rio Grande do Sul, Buenos Aires, the Pantanal, etc.

They also significantly affect the productive economy of our countries and, consequently, the quality of life of most of their inhabitants.

Among the many news stories related to the topic published by the media, we present two from a few days ago, as an example of the seriousness of its consequences.

The first is linked to banana production. A report by the NGO Christian Aid warned that up to 60% of the best banana-producing areas in the world are in danger due to rising temperatures caused by climate change.

The second is related to coffee and its rising prices, which have reached record levels driven both by rising demand and the impact of climatic phenomena such as prolonged droughts, floods, storms, and hurricanes.

Natural phenomena also impact other crops, reducing harvests, increasing unemployment, causing increased emigration to cities or abroad, and generating episodes of social unrest.

This reality has been significantly contributed to by the predatory environmental policies implemented by some states, seeking to privilege the economic interests of large mining corporations and powerful landowners. This has led to the emergence of voices of protest from directly affected sectors, primarily peasants and indigenous peoples. These voices have been silenced with fascist practices of repression, as seen in the cases of El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, etc.

BLURRY FUTURE FOR FRACKING

In addition to news like the above, we must add the fall in crude oil prices, a consequence of the oversupply in the market. An example of this is the statement by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which estimated that global oil supply growth this year will double that of demand and estimates that this situation will continue for a relatively long time. This led Petrobras President Magda Chambriard to declare that this scenario "is challenging" and that "It's time to tighten our belts."

This is very serious for countries like Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, etc., that depend largely on oil revenues, and even worse for nations like Argentina, which base their economic future on oil exploitation supported by fracking, which is unrealistic with oil prices below $65 per barrel.

WE MUST CHANGE THE CURRENT DEPENDENT ECONOMIC MODEL

The conclusion is that the current dependent economic model, based fundamentally on the export of agricultural and livestock products and the exploitation of minerals, is insufficient to meet the needs of the population, much less to face the current challenges posed by climate change, coupled with the changing global economic relationship.

It is imperative to replace it with one that, through the development of other productive activities, including the new technological and communications sectors, takes advantage of the enormous objective and subjective advantages offered by our region, building and cementing the interdependence of our economies through trade.

But it will not be easy. The current dependent system has given rise to social structures dominated by political and economic oligarchies that thrive on this model and will fight with all their might to prevent its replacement, even at the cost of the suffering of their people. In this objective, they have the unrestricted support of powers that benefit from the current state of affairs.

We repeatedly see how, at every meeting of the leaders of our states, many of them talk a lot about wealth creation and integration, but are incapable of taking the slightest measure to change the impoverishing and dependent model, as we saw at the last CELAC meeting, or in the shameful agreement between Mercosur (made up of countries dominated by these rural oligarchies) and the industrialized European Union, which sought to sanctify and, in effect, perpetuate the current system of unequal exchange.

One way is to begin changing the model now, establishing unity of action on specific aspects among countries that share this objective, and thus building the dream of full integration.

Editorial April 15 2025

THE FLOOR IS MOVING UNDER OUR FEET

Frequently, in history, we find decisions made by leaders that, at the time, were not understood by their contemporaries, but as events unfolded, their true intentions became clear.

Something like this is happening on our continent.

Recently, Mercosur reached a trade agreement with the European Union, which, in the words of the organization's leaders, will greatly boost trade between the two groups of nations and, of course, boost the economies of the group's members.

Likewise, the imminent inauguration of the Bioceanic Corridor, which will connect the Pacific and Atlantic, crossing Chile, Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, was announced. It is expected to capture up to 40% of the traffic flowing through the Panama Canal. These governments consider it a fundamental project to strengthen integration among them, as it "will improve connectivity and boost regional trade." Furthermore, it opens a gateway for Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay to trade with the Asian region, and in turn, facilitates Chile's trade with countries on the Atlantic side.

These results are the product of years of study and negotiations among the countries of the Southern Cone, as part of the goal of strengthening their economies and opening up to important European and Far Eastern markets.

BEHIND THE ANDEAN AND CARIBBEAN REGIONS

This economic strategy doesn't consider integrating the rest of the continent. That behavior makes sense. If we analyze the economic performance of the Southern Cone countries compared to the rest of the region, we find that only Paraguay has a per capita GDP of less than $10,000 per year. Of the 12 Andean and Central American nations, nine of them (Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) have a per capita income of less than $10,000. In five of them, the income is $5,000 or less. Clearly, these levels of scarcity and poverty are not at all attractive for joint economic projects. On the contrary, they would be perceived as a hindrance.

This vision creates a conflict of interest within organizations such as CELAC and UNASUR, established with the goal of achieving the integration of the Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole, and which has resulted in their virtual paralysis. These countries do not benefit from the advancement of the idea of total integration, which would hinder them from achieving their goals.

An example of this is Brazil's blocking of Venezuela's entry into the BRICS, a driving force behind Latin American integration. It is not in Brazil's interest to have two opposing visions within them: one, promoting regional integration as a whole, and the other, favoring the formation of a separate bloc.

END THE MYTH OF TOTAL REGIONAL INTEGRATION

In light of this analysis, it is imperative that the group of Andean, Central American, and Caribbean nations become aware of a reality that, for the time being, implodes any project of full regional integration. It is necessary for us to build mechanisms of regional unity that will allow us to emerge from the stagnation and decline of our economies, in order to achieve the levels of growth necessary to confront the tremendous social challenges our people face, exacerbated by the increasingly catastrophic consequences of climate change. This is compounded by the fact that emigration can no longer serve as an escape valve.

Studying the experience of the Southern Cone nations, we conclude that to achieve this aspiration, it is necessary to develop feasible common strategies based on the needs of the populations and that cut across different political positions. To the extent that these strategies are achieved, we will be able to consider the political integration of the entire region in the future. That is, starting from the bottom up, and not, as has been the case until now, imposing the idea of integration from above.

Let's look at what happened with the European Union. It began with six countries as the "European Economic Community," with the idea of promoting interdependent trade among them. Today, it has become a political entity of 27 states.

TO BE ABLE TO FACE THE ALLEGED NEW WORLD DISTRIBUTION

The need to create an effective and credible power center in our region is imposed by the current turn of world events, in particular, the institutionalization of a veritable "law of the jungle," where even the appropriation by military force of other countries' territories and wealth is permitted, including genocide, as evidenced by the martyrdom of the Palestinian people. We understand Trump's "peace proposal" of allowing Russia to seize Ukrainian territory as embedded in this "law of the jungle," seeking to ensure that no power interferes when his country does the same with, for example, Panama, Greenland, Guyana, Canada, etc. A true example of "qui pro quo."

This reality must be internalized, since our nations, the custodians of vast natural resources vital to the functioning of the great powers, are almost certainly in the crosshairs of future predatory actions.

We cannot wait for "Big Brother" action to protect us. The example of what is happening in Palestine is instructive, where, despite the horrific and cruel nature of the Jewish actions, almost no one does anything effective.

Locally, we saw this in the BRICS, where neither Russia nor China moved a finger in favor of Venezuela's inclusion, even though, given the nature of the issue, these countries would have been informed well in advance of Brazil's position.

The conclusion is one: Only our people can save themselves.

Editorial February 15 2025

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE APOCALYPSE

The European meteorological service Copernicus' report revealed that, during the year 2024, the average temperature of the earth was 1.5° C higher than the averages of the pre-industrial era (1850-1900), bringing forward by 26 years the target of 1.5° C established for the year 2050 in the Paris agreement of 2015.

When historically analysing the temperature on earth in this century, an alarming acceleration is observed that exceeds the forecasts made and that allows us to foresee that the limits of increase of 2° C will be reached much earlier than estimated, placing life on the planet in real danger.

The general conclusion that it is anthropomorphic action with the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, agriculture and livestock, etc. that is behind this increase in temperature due to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, does not explain by itself this caloric acceleration. It must be understood that our planet is a system, in which its components are intertwined with each other. In the case of the climate, human action has served as a dynamo to trigger physical, chemical and biological processes, which, having the characteristic of being positive and complex feedback, begin to have a heterogeneous evolution, with a life of their own, which in some cases will not stop even if humanity abstains from emitting these gases, and for whose catastrophic and inevitable effects we must prepare ourselves from now on, especially the poorest countries that suffer them the most.

Although they are not the only ones, below we point out four of these processes that, in our view, have a greater impact on the increase of this caloric mechanics:

1 Low clouds.

A study published in the journal Science concludes that the rapid increase in warming has been enhanced by a shortage of low clouds over the oceans, since having fewer low and bright clouds means that they have reduced their capacity to reflect the sun's energy back into space, in a phenomenon known as "albedo", so that energy reaches the planet directly, warming it even more. The absence of low clouds is related to the increase in temperature on the surface of the oceans, so that, as there is more heat in them, there are fewer low clouds, and as there are fewer low clouds, there will be more heat.

Given the immensity of the oceans, the surface covered by low clouds is enormous and therefore, their "albedo" capacity is enormous and, in turn, the impact if this is reduced is enormous.

Satellite image from December 2016

Satellite image from December 2024

In the images above you can see how, due to the decrease in clouds, in just a few years the ocean areas have increased their areas exposed to the sun.

2. Disappearance of the Arctic.

This huge mass of ice has been melting at a rapid rate, to the point that it is estimated that it may disappear in a few years and with it, its albedo capacity. This will impact ecosystems and the global climate, modifying meteorological patterns, threatening habitats crucial to the life of various species, raising the sea level, submerging islands and coasts that are currently inhabited and also allowing the emergence of its permafrost, the layer of frozen earth under the ice, releasing the gigantic quantities of CO2 retained by plants before freezing (almost double that in the atmosphere).

In the NASA image, its reduction from its original size can be seen, shown in the yellow line.

3 Disappearance of AMOC

Another very serious element, which has not been widely publicised, is the Atlantic Ocean current system or AMOC, which is showing the first signs of collapse, as indicated by a supercomputer after introducing current data on global warming.

The enormous importance of this current is its function of transporting warmer water from the south to the north of the ocean and cold water in the opposite direction, stabilising the climate. If these currents were to stop, it would be catastrophic because it would change the climate drastically, making it very cold towards the north, with temperatures of up to -30°C and extremely hot towards the south. No measure that is taken will be able to successfully deal with such marked changes in temperature.

The graph shows how the AMOC system works.

4. Droughts and floods.

The combination of the indiscriminate felling of large areas of forests and the relentless increase in heat has caused large areas of green areas to suffer extreme droughts, creating conditions conducive to the origin and spread of large forest fires, thus eliminating the very important function of forests in storing CO2, which, together with the sharp reductions in the flow of rivers and lakes (even leading to their disappearance) due to the lack of rain, ends up causing the phenomenon of desertification to grow, significantly affecting agriculture, especially in the weakest countries.

But also, the growing imbalance in atmospheric currents causes the increase in the number and intensity of storms, cyclones, hurricanes, which increasingly destroy towns and even entire cities.

UNION OF LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES IS IMPERATIVE

The above leads to the definitive conclusion that Climate Change will increase rapidly, with its burden of calamities for humanity that will fall, mostly, on the peoples of the poorest countries.

Unfortunately, the nations responsible for the emission of the largest amount of greenhouse gases care very little about this situation. On the contrary, at the height of shamelessness, they propose to take advantage of the natural changes that this change brings for their own benefit, as seen in the case of the melting of the Arctic, which instead of becoming aware of the seriousness of this, its leaders have begun a battle to see which nation will keep the minerals that can now be exploited.

Given this, it is imperative that Latin American countries, which are the ones that have suffered and will suffer the most from its consequences, urgently design a common agenda that allows them to confront or mitigate them. And that necessarily involves their union.

The objective conditions are in place. The population of countries with progressive governments in the region totals more than 450 million inhabitants.

The subjective conditions will be met when the leadership of these countries realizes the need to adapt to the profound changes experienced by humanity in recent years. Today's world has nothing to do with that of the last century, or even with that of 2018. This is a consequence of the COVID 19 pandemic, the "new geopolitics" and its irrational wars in Ukraine, Sudan and the genocide in Gaza, the virtual dismantling and inoperability of the main international organizations and the harsh reality of Climate Change, rather than a threat.

Unfortunately, on the other hand, those nations governed by leaders who deny Climate Change and who defend the interests of the great polluting powers, do present themselves with a solid common conduct, with very clear political and economic objectives (within which the fight against Climate Change is not included) as we have recently seen in the cases of Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Mexico and Venezuela, to mention the most outstanding ones.

The Latin American and Caribbean union went from being a mere desire to a historical necessity.

Editorial December 15 2024

COP29, THE BIG SCAM IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE

People around the world are suffering the terrible consequences of climate change, caused by the sustained and dangerous increase in temperature, a direct product of human action, mainly through the burning of fossil fuels. In 1924, we saw how the catastrophes it caused were much greater than in previous years, with the aggravating factor of the certainty that they will continue to increase over time.

Until now, numerous global events had been held to address this serious problem, mainly the so-called COP, which produced vital recommendations and set goals to reduce the use of these fossil fuels.

However, the recently concluded COP29 meeting radically changed these objectives since, instead of seeking solutions to stop climate change, it focused solely and exclusively on discussing a policy of "economic handouts" to "compensate" for the disastrous consequences that this change brings to the most disadvantaged peoples.

In this way, the powerful group of predatory countries, made up of the main producers and consumers of oil, imposed their interests, obtaining two fundamental achievements: first, preventing the continuation of the treatment of the issue of fossil fuels and thus eliminating any possibility that would slow down their activities and, second, offering such a volume of money (300,000 million dollars annually) with the certainty that it will end up in the hands of the corrupt and easily manipulated politicians and businessmen (today, salivating in anticipation of this distribution) who run the majority of the States of the so-called Global South.

THE DOMINATION OF THE GREAT POWERS IS BASED ON FOSSIL FUELS

The so-called industrialized nations are the most powerful on the planet, and they are so because their power is based on their industries, which depend on fossil fuels. Without them, this enormous industrial base would not exist and, therefore, this power would crumble, or rather, would collapse.

It is therefore no coincidence that the meeting of the so-called Group of 20, which brings together the most industrialized nations, was held just before COP29, with the obvious intention of fine-tuning, outside of formal deliberations, the common strategies of these powers for this event.

THE OBJECTIVE: MAINTAIN GLOBAL SUPREMACY

But the current objectives of these nations go further. Given the evident need to build or reform the United Nations, the final document of the last G20 meeting states: "The reform of the UN Security Council is essential to guarantee the diversity of global voices and promote more balanced and effective solutions to current challenges." And how do they conceive this reform? By incorporating new members to this Council that share their interests, which would be made up of the United States, China, Russia, France, England, India, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Japan and Saudi Arabia. That is to say, a real mafia that will bring together the countries that consume and produce almost all fossil fuels and, of course, would guarantee them to slow down or suppress any action against their exploitation.

Faced with this coherent position in defense of their interests, and with a very well-planned strategy, the countries of the Global South appear dispersed, incoherent, without a unity of action that allows them to design a roadmap in defense of our peoples, a truly criminal situation for our region that suffers, with the utmost rigor, the climatic consequences.

THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE: UNION

The only alternative to safeguard the interests of the Global South is to be able to build, with the union of its nations, a powerful pole that constitutes an effective counterweight.

The existence in Latin America and the Caribbean of countries with governments that are, or claim to be, progressive, such as Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, Suriname, Barbados, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Nicaragua, Antigua and Bermuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and now Uruguay, constitutes a resource that must become a solid pivot to achieve this, a union that can also serve as a reference for other regions of the globe.

WE PRAY FOR PROVIDENCE SO THAT THE LEADERS OF THE REGION DO NOT LOSE THIS, PERHAPS UNREPEATABLE, OPPORTUNITY

HEADER

Editorial October 15 2024

BRAZIL AND COLOMBIA

UNITED IN THEIR EXPANSIONIST STRATEGY

Brazil's position regarding Venezuela at the last BRICS meeting is not at all fortuitous, it is part of the conduct that this nation has maintained with respect to our country in recent decades, presenting below some of the many actions carried out:

1- In the nineties of the last century, the Venezuelan parliamentarian Walter Marquéz publicly denounced the elaboration of a military action plan by the top brass of the Brazilian army, called the "Caixa Norte", destined, eventually, to dominate and control the northern part of the Amazon, including, of course, Venezuelan Guyana, rich in minerals such as gold, aluminum, iron, etc.

2- In the book by our director Carlos Enrique Dallmeier, published in 2007 and entitled "Recessive Imperialism, Its Terminal Phase", the following fragment is mentioned:

"A blatant example of how this argument is handled is found in the statements of Nicholas Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs of the United States, who based himself on the premise that: "We do not need to be in the hands of oil producers like Iran or Venezuela in the future, but rather helping the world to be more democratic."

He proposed, in meetings with the Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorín and the Chief Minister of the Civil House of the government of Lula Da Silva, Dilma Rousseff, an alliance between Brazil and the United States which: "will be a voice of leadership in the hemisphere, it would not be a co-leadership, but we would be two centers of leadership."118

But if this news is serious, even more serious is the review that was published in the press the next day, in the which states: "The Brazilian government partially accepted the request of the United States, which wants the country to act to defend "balance and democratic principles" in South America, reported the newspaper O'Globo yesterday. "

The note continues further: "...the Brazilian authorities affirmed that they will not interfere in the internal affairs of neighboring countries, but that they are prepared to "help calm the spirits of Presidents considered [problematic] by the White House, such as Chávez."119"

3-Likewise, as soon as the discovery of important oil deposits in Guyana in 2015 was announced and the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Barack Obama, declared Venezuela an "unusual" danger for his nation, a military rapprochement between Guyana and Brazil began with the meeting between the Chief of Staff of Guyana, Brigadier Marck Phillips and a Brazilian delegation led by Brigadier General Ubiratán Poty, which was followed by very high-level meetings, such as the one held in 2018 between the Brazilian Ministers of Defense and Justice and the President of Guyana, to deepen cooperation in defense matters, in view of the current situation on the northern coast of South America (?), and others, all accompanied by a significant increase in the Brazilian military presence in the state of Roraima, bordering Venezuela.

It should also be remembered that in 2019 a Brazilian general was appointed deputy commander for interoperability at the US Southern Command.

4- These facts are listed within the Brazilian military and diplomatic strategy, which is discussed in depth in the book "Challenges and New Scenarios of Multidimensional Security in the National, Regional and Hemispheric Context in the Decade 2015-2025", which is part of the Research Group Center of Gravity of the "General Rafael Reyes Prieto" Higher War School of Colombia, and from which we extract in its chapter 17 the following reflection by Monica Hirst:

"the creation of a powerful regional block under Brazilian leadership should allow the democratization of international relations, providing Brazil with individual benefits for its international projection",

pointing out that:

"according to what was stated by the author in question, as well as by other academics such as Elodie Brun and Bruno Muxagato, since the Lula government a model of foreign policy focused on the following aspects has begun to consolidate:

1. Regional strategy with more global objectives.

2. Regional leader in South America (political and economic stability).

3. (using the) Region as a diplomatic springboard.

4. International projection

In this way, Brazil begins to project itself towards the world as a middle power, and the need to rethink itself in the economic, commercial and political spheres makes the defense sector one of the fundamental axes of its renewal,"

USING THE BRICS TO ACHIEVE ITS HEGEMONIC OBJECTIVES IN THE REGION

Brazilian conduct in the BRICS is nothing more than an expression more of that strategy, to use that group as a "springboard" to become the leader representing the Latin American countries, seeking to eliminate Venezuela as a competitor.

In this predicament he seems to be accompanied by other members of the BRICS, as can be seen in Putin's statement, stating that it is necessary to reform the United Nations, fundamentally the Security Council, incorporating new members with veto power, such as South Africa representing Africa, Brazil representing Latin America, in addition to India.

A Security Council conceived in this way would be nothing more than the distribution of power in two large blocks, on the one hand, the American and European ones and on the other, the five countries that made up the original BRICS, leaving the rest of the 180 countries as simple onlookers, turning all that propaganda chatter of the Global South into a mere Gatopardian action: "Change so that nothing changes."

What is extremely serious is that this structure, thus designed, would not be able to successfully face the serious challenges imposed by Climate Change, and of which we, the Latin American people, are the ones who suffer the most from its terrible consequences.

THE NEOGRADINA THREAT

In an opportunistic behavior, Colombia joined forces with Brazil to confront Venezuela. It must be remembered that between both countries there is an old dispute over the bordering marine waters in the Gulf of Venezuela, which possess huge oil reserves and which Colombia has always sought to resolve by force. Thus we see how:

1- It torpedoed the treaty proposed in the 1970s on the matter.

2- In 1987, with the purpose of seeking a confrontation, the Caldas corvette entered Venezuelan territorial waters in the Gulf, which was avoided by the firm position of the then president Lusinchi and the National Armed Forces.

3- In collusion with the stateless opposition of Venezuela, Petro introduced several companies of regular military personnel into the country in 2004, camouflaged as paramilitaries, with the purpose of dressing them as Venezuelan soldiers, seeking to generate a civil war. Fortunately, it was aborted in time.

4- He lent his territory to attempt the invasion of paramilitaries and radical opponents to our country through the bordering state of Táchira in 2019, which ended in the so-called "battle of the bridges." And so many other episodes.

In conclusion, Petro's position is none other than the continuation of that maintained by all Colombian presidents to try to resolve this controversy by force, which he now tries to take advantage of the situation in Venezuela to achieve this, allying himself with Brazil and trying to get Mexico on board, which did not fall into that trap.

If there were a union of Latin American and Caribbean countries, none of these situations would be resolved with military interventions.

Note: The above does not mean support or rejection of the policies of either the current Venezuelan government or the opposition. We have no opinion on that. We are only moved by the conviction that there are dark clouds that portend a war imposed from abroad.

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Editorial August 15 2024

THE CARDS ON THE TABLE

CCOP28, the meeting convened by the United Nations last year in Cairo to address the issue of Climate Change, marked a turning point in the fight against it.

At the beginning of the meeting, important scientific studies were combined that explained it as a consequence of the emission of greenhouse gases due to anthropogenic action, with the determined activity of social movements from all latitudes, strata and tendencies of the globe, which demanded decisive actions in the face of the growing materialization of the ravages that it was causing, both in the social aspect and in health and the economy.

All these studies, claims and proposals were ignored by the industrialized countries, which, together with the main oil-producing countries, imposed their own agenda of continuing and increasing the production and consumption of fossil fuels and, even, slowing down the change towards vehicles with electric energy, as expressed by senior executives of the automotive industry.

SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN.

This setback will take its toll on nature, with the inhabitants of non-industrialized countries bearing the brunt of the consequences, a situation that is particularly serious for the Latin American people. It is urgent that we decisively confront this announced reality.

Unfortunately, global geopolitical interests weigh on the actions of many leaders in our region. Let us explain the reason for such behavior. The great Western powers need to maintain their levels of industrial production, for which they need to maintain the levels of use of fossil fuels such as oil and gas and coal, vital to sustain their murderous arms industry, against the interests of all humanity.

Given that large crude oil reserves are located in the Middle East and Russia, and given the political and military volatility in these regions, they have set themselves the strategic objective of taking over the large deposits recently discovered in Latin America, such as Vaca Muerta in Argentina, Essequibo in the disputed region between Venezuela and Guyana, Guajira in Colombia, the Orinoco oil belt in Venezuela, etc. Furthermore, aware that sooner rather than later the use of fossil fuels will decrease in favor of electrification, they have also proposed to draw on the world's largest lithium reserves, located in our region.

A DISASTROUS STRATEGY

To achieve their objectives, they seek to gain the local support of political scoundrels. Proof of this behavior is the recent visit of the head of the United States Southern Command to puppet countries such as Chile and Argentina, with presidents of a clear neo-fascist bent, seeking to eliminate any progressive government with integrationist purposes.

In this order of ideas, we have seen in recent decades, coups d'état or interventions, failed or not, either with the use of military force or with the manipulation of laws in Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Haiti, Argentina, Bolivia, etc. and already, at this very moment, the presidents of Colombia and Honduras are denouncing plans to overthrow them.

A FALSE DICHOTOMY To lubricate their objectives, they spread the outdated thesis of dividing us into left and right. This Manichaeism is no longer valid. If there is any division, it is between the sectors that want to thrive in the shadow of the support of the great powers, condemning them with their burden of backwardness and poverty, and the sectors that advocate economic development, with social justice and under the aegis of humanism and solidarity.

STATESMEN, MORE THAN POLITICIANS

But to achieve the latter, we need leaders, or rather, statesmen, who rise above the miseries of everyday politics, seeking the necessary unity of our peoples, the only way out to face the serious current challenges, such as Climate Change, poverty, hunger, migration, internal conflicts, technological and industrial backwardness, etc.

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Editorial June 15 2024

DECISIVE YEARS IN THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY

The image shows the three possible scenarios in the evolution of oil consumption, from now until 2050, as estimated by the oil company B.P. in its latest annual report. Being the New Momentum or new impulse, with its projected consumption of about 75 million barrels of oil per day by the year 2050, the worst that can happen in the fight against Climate Change.

Whoever prevails, in short, (and hence the future of billions of people), will depend on the actions of the States, as pointed out by Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, "They are the States, it is the countries that have to be pioneers in all this, impose rules, impose limits and review their legislation." This, precisely, was the leitmotiv that served from the beginning as the basis for the constitution of our organization, an objective that has sometimes been misunderstood, or other times misinterpreted.

The action of civil society, the scientific community, NGOs, and social movements, more than important, are vital in the fight against Climate Change, but not because of the actions they can take directly, which are very limited. , not to say almost null, but for the role of raising awareness and putting pressure on the entities that have decision-making power.

It is not an easy task. The interests that oppose this fight are very diverse and powerful, as reflected in the words of the Secretary General of OPEC, Haitham Ghais, "the demand for crude oil would increase by 2.2 million barrels per day! this year!", he irresponsibly maintained that "some ideological aspects frequently lead to strong discrimination (against the oil industry), which in this area is unacceptable, false narratives are created around fossil fuel and we always see the demonization of this sector"

The height of unconsciousness, and which should alert us to the need to increase our action, were the words of the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexandr Nóvak, who "predicted that world oil demand will exceed 100 million barrels per day of current oil to 115 in 2030."

The above is in tune with the announcement by the most important automotive factories of the slowdown and, sometimes abandonment, of the elaborate plans for the manufacturing of electric vehicles.

Very serious issue. In the aforementioned BP report, more than half of the oil reduction is allocated to the automotive sector in all scenarios. If this is not fulfilled, it is foreseen that in the very near future, there will be more and greater natural disasters as a consequence of an exponential Climate Change.

Rightly so, UN Secretary General António Guterres recently stated that "the world is on the highway to climate hell," calling fossil fuel companies the "godfathers of climate chaos." , who "have spent billions of dollars over decades distorting the truth, deceiving the public and sowing doubt."

With all these elements in mind, our Association designed, to begin in the second half of this year, the communication project "Global Alternative", which we cordially invite you to support.

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Editorial May 15 2024

ONLY JOINT ACTION WILL SAVE US

The most recent CNN survey on the issues that the United States electorate considers most important in the face of the next presidential elections, explains the reason for the lackadaisical, and almost indifferent, behavior of that government in the face of the current Climate Crisis.

Indeed, this survey shows that only a quarter of the American population considers the issue of Climate Change important, and given that the messages and actions of politicians in that country are determined, fundamentally, by public opinion, which really translates into votes, we should not expect that, given the little weight that the fight against Climate Change has, the government's position will change.

But this behavior is shared by other countries, which continue to explore in search of deposits, as we have just seen in Antarctica where, as reported on May 11 by the British newspaper The Telegraph, Russian researchers found the largest oil reserves in the world. world, equivalent to 511 billion barrels of oil, or in the warlike attitude in Guyana, due to its rich deposits.

If, according to the International Energy Agency, world oil consumption is 101.7 million barrels of oil per day, with estimated world reserves of about 1,625. 000,000,000 barrels, there is oil until around the year 2070. If there was really the intention to do without oil, there would be neither new exploration nor wars over fields. Shameless hypocrisy, cruel mockery, particularly of the nations most in need.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN MUST TAKE ACTION NOW

As we see, faced with the threat of Climate Change, and as we sadly saw at COP28, we Latin Americans and Caribbeans cannot expect anything from the most industrialized countries. Only we can face it successfully.

Our nations have a dangerous level of risk of suffering major catastrophes in the face of extreme natural disasters, such as earthquakes, storms, floods, droughts, etc., as revealed by the latest Report on "Global Risks 2023", prepared by the Ruhr University of Bochum, and whose graph we present tbelow:

Journalist María Florencia Melo highlights that, according to the report, although extreme natural phenomena cannot be prevented, countries can reduce the risk of catastrophes "by fighting poverty and hunger, strengthening education and health, and adopting preparedness measures.".

Numerous scientists, statesmen and leaders of the region have spoken out in this same sense.

An example of the above are the words of the Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Clarems Endara, who expressed:

"Although threats from natural phenomena are inevitable, their effects can be mitigated through disaster risk management if we count with a better knowledge of the threats and an adequate approach to the vulnerabilities of the sectors most prone to social risks, influencing risk drivers such as poverty and inequality".

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Editorial April 15 2024

TIME IS PROVING US RIGHT

When we decided to establish our NGO, we did so based on the following facts:

1 -The existence and accelerated evolution of Climate Change at a global level.

2 - That the only way to face it successfully is with the joint action of all nations, with the UN being the ideal organization that should coordinate and direct it.

3 - That our Latin American and Caribbean region is the one that has suffered the most, and will continue to suffer increasingly, the terrible consequences of Climate Change.

What has happened to date has shown that both the UN is not up to these challenges, as was seen in the recent COP28 meeting, and that our Latin American and Caribbean people are at the mercy of the terrible effects of Climate Change. .

FOUR LEVELS OF ACTION

We understand that to face this reality, it is necessary to consider four levels of action:

a) A first level refers to the effects limited to the territory of each country in particular, taking into account the equipment, technological and human resources available to it.

b) The second is made up of those areas common to several countries that suffer specific phenomena and need to structure common strategies. An example, the summit of the Amazon.

c) The third level covers the Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole. For example, the COVID 19 pandemic and the predictions that events like this will be repeated constitute a clear signal of the need to build a regional health research and production system for supplies, medicines, vaccines, diagnostic equipment, etc. . We find the same industrial design and development needs in the areas of non-conventional energy (wind, hydraulic, etc.), non-polluting transportation (taking advantage of large lithium reserves), water management, and forest preservation. , etc.

Furthermore, a very serious aspect is the impact of meteorological phenomena on the economy, which affects both production and supply chains.

This will inevitably force us to modify the current extra-regional model, for one that encourages production and marketing within our region. Process that, by the way, is already occurring naturally. In Venezuela, for example, according to Dr. Ramón Goyo, President of the Venezuelan Chamber of Exporters, non-oil exports to the countries in the area have already reached 40% of the total.

However, achieving it presents important challenges due to the fact that our countries base the bulk of their economies on global trade, in which we produce and export, fundamentally, similar goods such as minerals, agricultural products and tourism, and import products. manufactured goods, a structure that hinders the interdependence necessary to stimulate intraregional trade through a type of regional division of labor.

CREATE REGIONAL MECHANISMS

CELAC would be the ideal scenario to promote these tasks. But given that their decisions must be made by consensus, this becomes impossible thanks to several Latin American governments that attempt to ideologize denialist positions on Climate Change when, in reality, they obey dark economic interests, native and foreign, which have led to what Lula has called the "balkanization of our region."

Faced with this reality, the governments of the region, which are aware of what Climate Change means and who are the vast majority, must begin immediately, either through CELAC itself, or by common agreement, to create mechanisms that allow design the measures, plans and bureaucratic structures necessary to successfully face these challenges.

Failure to do so will increase poverty with its consequences of crime and dangerous political instability, which will further stimulate emigration, both extra-regionally and internally, converting, in the medium term, cities into megalopolises, multiplying their problems.

d) The fourth level corresponds to actions at a global level, essential to stop Climate Change. In that sense, we understand that CELAC must design a strategy that works in intelligence with the other regions of the world to achieve this.

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Editorial March 15 2024

COP28 imposes a change in strategy

Biodiversity on the planet is characterized by interrelated processes of individuals with each other and with the geographical environment that surrounds them. Any alteration of the latter directly affects the species that relate to it and, indirectly, to the rest of the chain of living beings that depend on those.

This environment currently undergoes a growing temperature increase, product of the breakdown of a natural thermal equilibrium that, adequate amounts of CO2, water vapor and other gases in the atmosphere, made it possible thanks to the "controlled" greenhouse effect that they generated and that generated and that It allowed part of the heat of the earth to escape the space, due to an increase in the volume of these gases, and the increase of the greenhouse effect by human activity.

DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES

This break accelerates the natural feedback mechanisms. A greater heat in the air, greater in the oceans, which causes greater evaporation of water, increasing the greenhouse effect, which in turn heats more the oceans causing, among other consequences: storms and more numerous and violent cyclones; Stronger aerial turbulence, which have affected, and will affect, the transport of goods and tourism; the death of corals and algae releasing the important volumes of the CO2 that have trapped; The same happens with the melting of the poles and the affloring of the permafrost below and the release of the CO2 that contains: the rise in sea level that threatens coastal areas; the probable extinction of marine species, which would cause the interruption of food chains; In addition to the danger that marine vital currents stop, such as the AMOC.

All this also affects the stability of the global environment on the mainland, causing great droughts that destroy sowings, diminish livestock and feed vessels fires; turbulent rains and floods causing great destruction and losses of life; modification in the reproductive cycles of the plants; and many more etc.

For decades, scientists have argued that this process can be reversed and combat limiting the consumption of fossil fuels, main CO2 emitters. But all events, forums and meetings held on how to reduce that consumption have been unsuccessful or not very effective. COP28, recently organized by the United Nations, is an example of that safety.

This has been possible thanks to the unit of action that the main industrial powers have established, which see in the reduction of these fuel production levels, while your reserves allow it. Such is the case of the United States that, with reservations that reach for 15 years at the current level, they propose is for 2038 not produce more methane gas.

FOR A REALISTIC AND EFFECTVE STRATEGY

Given this, our region must be aware of two things: 1) COP28 killed all hope that global and short -term measures are taken that drastically reduce the production and consumption of fossil fuels and 2) that experience has taught that our peoples They are the ones who have suffered the most and, they will suffer the attacks of climate change

You have to change the strategy, and move from the complaint and rimbombantes speeches, by concrete steps to build in our region, mechanisms and joint instances that allow to successfully face that threat future. The recent regional treaties of the Amazon and the bioceanic corridor constitute valuable referents for other areas and spaces.

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Editorial January 15 2024

COMMUNICATION: POWERFUL TOOL

The meager results of the recent COP28 indicate that the date is far away for effective actions against Climate Change and its dire consequences to be crystallized.

The Latin American and Caribbean countries, which have felt the most, and feel the climate effects firsthand, cannot continue with their arms crossed, suffering the onslaught of prolonged droughts and major floods, which have significantly affected their economic activities, in addition to the serious social calamities they have caused, eroded the quality of life of the inhabitants, including health, and directly affecting hundreds of thousands of people and causing thousands of fatalities.

We cannot continue down the path of passivity, since what is on the horizon for our countries, and predicted by recognized organizations, are even greater climate disasters, without ruling out the foreseeable appearance of new pandemics such as COVID

None of our countries alone can face the consequences of Climate Change. The only way to do it successfully is with joint action by those nations convinced of the existence of this reality and willing to face it, which goes beyond political and ideological positions in favor of the common good.

This will be possible only if such a degree of awareness is created in the population that it drives their governments in that direction. Achieving this goal is the great challenge that those of us who promote the fight against Climate Change have:

In this order of ideas, our Association has proposed as a short-term objective, to publish a periodical publication that uses its spaces to make known, in a pedagogical and scientific way, knowledge about these topics, as well as, help to the frank and useful discussion in the region of the measures to confront it; also promoting activities and events that promote their dissemination, in addition to reviewing the recent news that is being produced on this topic at a global level.

We have contemplated it in two presentations: one virtual, which uses the power of social networks so that it can be widely accessed at a regional level, and the other physically, in order to deliver it directly to the countries of our continent, to their higher-level academic institutions, research centers, academies, related public institutions and organizations, and to the political sectors that have the obligation to address the claims of their people.

We are aware that it is a very ambitious goal, but just as necessary.

Given that our Association does not depend financially on any government, party or organization, this goal will only be possible to achieve with the collaboration of as many people as possible. That is why we invite you: Well, to join the activities of our association; Or through much-needed donations. To find out how to do this, you can access the "Collaboration and Donations" section of our website www.aprosima.com.

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Editorial December 15 2023

COP28, WHAT NOW?

On October 23, the Spanish newspaper El País titled an article like this, and rightly so: "COP28 will be a decisive moment for the future of Latin America and the Caribbean."

Certainly, our continent has been the hardest hit by Climate Change with very serious economic and social consequences, which, together with the sustained fall in the average GDP, as indicated in the latest ECLAC report, ends for presenting a gloomy outlook for the region.

A CONFERENCE FAILURE

Unfortunately, after so many expectations generated by the holding of the UN Conference on Climate Change, COP28, the final document approved constituted a true and total disappointment by not approving important and quantifiable concrete measures to combat it, attempting to disguise it in the media, through ex-officio commentators, presumably paid, with the argument that an extraordinary achievement had been achieved, the "recognition for the first time" of the role of fossil fuels as emitters of greenhouse gases and the weak call to "get away" from them.

This is a cruel mockery for the billions of human beings who suffer its consequences with droughts, floods, storms, and all the consequences that these cause in terms of hunger, unemployment, quality of life, and even death.

And it constitutes a mockery, because to present this recognition as a great logo when, in 1861, the Irish physicist John Tyndall demonstrated the influence of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the changes that have occurred in the climate, and in 1895, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius, concludes that industrial-era coal combustion will increase the natural greenhouse effect. Observation ratified in 1965, by an advisory committee to the presidency of the United States, which described it as an important fact and of real concern. Concern that increased and led in 1997 to a world conference in which the Kyoto protocol was approved, a binding agreement (not fulfilled) between the signatory countries so that, between 2008 and 2012, they would reduce the emission of gases with an effect greenhouse by 5.2% compared to 1990,

For the COP28 Conference, the conditions were in place to achieve decisive achievements. Never before had the world scientific community produced and disseminated so much material on Climate Change, which was combined with a year in which the terrible consequences of this change were felt or known by practically everyone on the planet. It will take some time to have another scenario so favorable.

LEARN THIS LESSON TO PLOT THE PATH

A great lesson must be learned from this: It will not be only with assemblies, meetings, articles, complaints or demonstrations, that effective mechanisms can be articulated to confront Climate Change. To achieve this, it is also necessary to design a precise roadmap and have conscious, clear and courageous leadership. If achieving it is fundamental for the world, for the Latin American people it is vital.

The great advantage is that now there is much greater awareness and a generalized conviction that something must be done and soon.

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Editorial November 15 2023

THE ESEQUIBO, CHRONOLOGY OF A DISPOSSESSION

In 1999, the US company Exxon signed an agreement with Guyana to explore an offshore block of 26,800 square kilometers (an area larger than the state of Falcón), in which it found important oil deposits.

The problem they faced was that this block was located in the territorial sea of Guayana Esequiba, an area in dispute between Guyana and Venezuela. In order to anticipate a highly probable direct conflict with Venezuela due to the presence of Exxon, in March 2015 the United States issued an order declaring our country as a real and credible threat. At the time it was not understood by anyone, as it lacked any kind of basis. Subsequently, and not by chance, in May 2015, Exxon Mobil announces that it found oil in the sea of Guayana Esequiba. No one related then both facts.

STIMULATING INTERNAL CONFLICT

Continuing with its strategy of seeking to weaken Venezuela in such a way that it would accept any imposition with the Essequibo, the next step was to divide Venezuela politically into irreconcilable factions. For this purpose, it takes advantage of both the triumph of the opposition in the 2015 legislative elections, with provocative actions, and inexplicable at first sight, since the logical thing would be a political activity that, based on that triumph, would seek to win the next presidential elections, and the fact that, in the years 2016 and 2017, 70 billion dollars of Venezuelan foreign debt was maturing.

To prevent Venezuela from having the resources for its cancellation, the international oil price was manipulated, taking it from almost $100 to up to $17 per barrel, which placed his government in the dilemma of either not honoring the debt, in which case creditors could foreclose the valuable oil assets, or paying it and being left without funds to meet social needs. He opted for the latter option, generating a major economic crisis.

To aggravate it, the US government implemented economic measures against our country. It should be noted that, historically, the real purpose of economic sanctions has been to seriously undermine the economy of a country, to prevent the strengthening of its civilian infrastructure and its military defenses, so that it cannot offer serious resistance at the time of an armed intervention, as Caesar did in Gaul. The same has happened in the cases of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Russia, etc.

The situation of social dissatisfaction in 2017, made people think that it was the opportunity to start a real civil insurrection, Maidan type, which what caused was the death of hundreds of dead among civilians and military. Without that foreign intervention, the situation in Venezuela would be totally different today.

THE INTERVENTION OF THE UN

The UN Secretary General takes advantage of this situation of internal conflict to refer, on his own, the issue of the dispute to the International Court of Justice, thus ignoring the Treaty of Geneva between England and Venezuela and ratified by Guyana.

In order for Venezuela to legally validate the cooked up and expected decision of said Court, they created the figure of a parallel government. Another act that was not understandable at the time. Although that attempt failed, there is still a "President in charge" of the republic.

COVID 19, the wars in Ukraine and Palestine, which threatens to become regional, plus the tense situation in Asia, have slowed down the speed of the decision, waiting for better conditions. If this decision were to generate a conflict in the Essequibo, given its extension, its jungle condition and the absence of cities, this would be a long one, mostly unconventional, and with the counterfactual that, attacking Venezuela's most critical point, its oil installations, would be, given the world situation of crude oil, spitting upwards.

WHAT IS AT STAKE IS OIL

It is worth remembering that it has been the cause of many wars in the last century, including the Second World War, with the Nazi attempt to occupy the Caucasus, and Japan entered that war when the United States prevented its access to crude oil, in Iraq, Syria, Angola, etc.

Venezuela responded to that strategy and as a first step, with the direct consultation of the people through an overwhelming referendum, catalogued by some American media as a way to give "new wings to Maduro's territorial ambitions", showing a total ignorance of the historical feeling of our people.

Our Association APROSIMA as such, is not biased by any current ideological or political current, within the country or abroad, nor is it identified with any religious creed. Our conduct and opinions obey our condition as Venezuelans, which prevails over any consideration.

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Editorial October 15 2023

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS (Greta Thunberg)

As a response by the UN to the foreseeable effects on nature of continuing with the rate of greenhouse gas emissions, the world conference on climate change was held in 1997 in Japan, at which the so-called Kyoto Protocol was "solemnly approved", stipulating a 5% reduction in the emission of these gases. By that year, the total amount of gases emitted globally as a result of fossil fuels was 24.15 billion tons.

Subsequent to that conference, the UN held highly publicized global meetings in 2007 in Indonesia, in 2009 in Denmark, in 2015 in Paris 35.5 and in 2022 in Scotland, to "tackle climate change".

These actions have been of little, if any, use. Suffice it to say that last year 36.6 billion tons of these gases were emitted, 12.45 billion tons more than in 1995, representing an increase of more than 51%, as shown in the attached graph taken from the web portal www.statista.com.

And it is even more serious that the use of coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, has increased, reaching, according to UN news, to represent more than 40% of the global growth of CO2 emissions in 2021.

From the above, very serious conclusions can be drawn:

1 - The serious natural disasters we are suffering, are a consequence of such irresponsibility. If this CO2 increase is not stopped, the consequences for humanity will be more disastrous with each passing day, particularly for the most vulnerable nations.

2 - With the current structure, the UN is unable to successfully face the challenge of climate change.

3 - The major polluting powers, disregard the opinion and interests of the rest of the world, and contemptuously ignore their commitments.

4 - The rest of the countries are powerless in the face of the devastating damage that climate change is causing and will cause in our countries.

Thus our proposal to change the Security Council, dominated by the polluting powers, for a Council of Humanity, in which the different regions of the planet are represented, with equal decision-making power among them.

We Latin Americans and Caribbeans must play, through union, a decisive role in these much-needed changes. Unfortunately, we see that most of the region's leadership is unaware of this, exhausting itself in sterile and miniscule internal disputes.

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Editorial September 15 2023

PROPOSED ROAD MAP TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE

The lack of space and the absence of proposals on Climate Change in most of the speeches made by the Heads of State at the last UN Assembly was alarming.

Especially when contrasted with the alarming reality that the planet is beginning to experience climate change, to the point that, by next year, the goal set in Paris for 2050 of a 1.5 degree Celsius increase in temperature above the average of the pre-industrial era is expected to be reached, 26 years ahead of schedule! It is so serious that there is already talk of a goal of 2.6° increase by 2050, which would be catastrophic.

This acceleration in the increase of global warming and its disastrous consequences, impose that humanity urgently implements effective measures to face it.

The UN should be the ideal organization to design, coordinate and guarantee their execution. However, the political-military conception that has prevailed in its constitution and functioning, directed in practice by the five permanent members of the Security Council, has prevented it not only from fulfilling this role, but also from successfully confronting the other serious problems facing humanity, such as migration, hunger, poverty, child malnutrition, human rights, environmental preservation, democracy, drugs, etc.

WHAT IS THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL?

The UN was created by the victorious powers of World War II as a forum for all nations. Since the fundamental fear at the time was the repetition of such terrible conflagrations as that war, they created a body within the UN, the Security Council, with the aim of eliminating any possibility of global armed conflict, granting five nations the right to veto any of its decisions or resolutions.

It certainly achieved its goal. Although opportunities have not been lacking, in nearly eighty years there has been no direct conflagration between the great powers.

This has not meant that wars and conflicts have disappeared. On the contrary, there have never been so many simultaneous wars and upheavals in the history of mankind as in the last eight decades, almost always as a result of the appetite for domination, first by the two poles of power that emerged in the post-war period, and then by the so-called unipolar world. Thus transforming the rest of the world into a bloody chessboard, with many nations becoming its pawns.

Thus we saw wars and invasions in Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Haiti, Grenada, Poland, Sudan, Czechoslovakia, Angola, Laos, Cambodia, Algeria, Iraq, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Libya, Syria, Georgia, Tibet, to mention but a few, in addition to the countless coups d'état, political assassinations, civil wars and insurrections that occurred during that period.

With such a structure, the UN is not capable of facing the new realities. Its complete restructuring is urgently needed.

Powerful global economic and political groups see their interests threatened by the measures taken to this end, and will try to contaminate them. An example of this are the cosmetic proposals, in the Catopardian style of changing so that nothing changes, of limiting them to increasing the number of nations with a permanent seat on the Security Council, or of giving greater power to its Secretary General.

MULTIPOLARITY: MORE OF THE SAME

Another proposal that has been circulating is that of moving towards a multipolar and multicentric world, which in practice is nothing more than sanctifying a similar scheme of domination under another name.

What really is a "pole of power"? It is a system in which a nation or group of nations constituting the center of the "pole" has economic, political and military control over another group of dependent nations, a periphery euphemistically called "area of influence".

The power of these "poles" is directly related to the amount of territory, resources and population of these "areas of influence".

The first modern multipolar system was established at the end of the 19th century, when the European powers divided up most of the world through the establishment of colonies. That balance did not last long. A few decades later, the doors were opened to the First World War, due to the desire of some of them to redistribute the possession of those colonies.

If a multipolarity scheme is established, the struggle between "poles" to expand their "areas of influence" at the expense of the other poles will be repeated, and given the impossibility of resolving it with a direct war between them over nuclear weapons, the Third World countries will continue to be the pawns on the global chessboard, as can already be seen in the confrontations in the African Sahel nations such as Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, in Southeast Asia, in Ukraine, in Latin America with wars, sanctions, coups and counter-coups. Burkina Faso, in Southeast Asia, in Ukraine, in Latin America with wars, sanctions, coups and counter-coups. It is in this scenario that we must understand the stimulated aggravation of the confrontation, and probable war, between Venezuela and Guyana.

The other important aspect is that, given the implosion of the instituted "global order", when its main legal, financial and even sporting institutions were placed in defense of the interests of the Western pole in the Ukraine War, such as the IMF, WTO, SWIFT, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, etc., it is obvious that any pole that emerges will take care of itself and build its own economic and legal structures, which would prevent, for a time, any possibility of global institutionality.

Concentrating almost all of humanity's efforts on global power struggles and neglecting its very serious problems would mean the end of our race. We must internalize that these problems, including Climate Change, threaten EVERYONE, and must be faced TOGETHER.

In this sense, our proposal is to replace the current conception of the Security Council with a Council of Humanity, whose main goal would be to successfully confront the enormous problems facing human beings. The main geographical areas of the planet would be represented on an equal footing: South America and the Caribbean, Africa, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Central Asia, Southeast Asia; as well as the most populous countries: China and India. India's recent invitation to the African Union to the G-20 meeting, and not to individual countries of that continent, is an interesting precedent that indicates that this is the way forward.

If consolidated regional blocs can be structured in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, conflicts and wars will be significantly reduced, since no "pole" will be able to intervene either militarily or politically in the countries that comprise them. This would also allow all regions to participate actively and directly in global decision-making.

The road to achieve this will not be easy. Many obstacles will have to be overcome. But reality is stubborn. The worsening of environmental deterioration, and other problems that cannot be hidden or minimized, will serve as a powerful pivot to achieve it.

Two conditions are essential to achieve this objective.

First: the creation of solid organizations that bring together the nations of each region. Let us remember that Africa alone has more than 1.2 billion inhabitants and Latin America more than 650 million inhabitants, which together constitute true unconquerable rocks.

Second: We must de-ideologize the study and the search for solutions, not conditioning them to comply with the postulates of political, economic or ideological theories. With leaders who act without pre-judgments, concentrating on the problems to be faced.

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Editorial August 15 2023

THE UN DECLARED THE ERA OF GLOBAL WARMING IS OVER, THE ERA OF "GLOBAL BOILING" HAS ARRIVED

In contrast to the tens, or perhaps hundreds of thousands of news items, writings, studies and essays published in the last 30 years by the media and organizations, in which they denounced and warned about the dangers that Climate Change would bring to humanity, most of the materials we currently read about the environment describe catastrophic events that occur as a direct effect of the acceleration of Climate Change.

In the news section of our website www.aprosima.com, we present a small sample of information and materials that have been published recently and that will allow the reader to have an idea about the degree of deterioration that the environment is experiencing not only as a result of climate change, but also by the action of human beings in other spheres of our daily lives. Deterioration that will pale before what will happen to humanity in the future if the necessary radical measures are not taken NOW.

Not without reason, the UN Secretary General has declared that "The era of global warming is over, now it is time for the era of global boiling".

It is therefore necessary that those who have, and will have in their hands the ability to take such measures, become aware of these new realities and the danger we are facing.

This is an arduous task, both because of a total or partial ignorance of the seriousness of the situation, and because of the action of powerful economic and political interests that fear that they will be directly affected by the measures to be taken.

To overcome this resistance, it is necessary that human beings as a whole (scientists, organized communities, universities, academia, religious sectors, etc.) internalize the seriousness of the situation we are facing and manage to generate actions that raise awareness at decision-making levels. But this requires an enormous communicational effort.

It is in this sense of divulgation that our Association directs its efforts, and together with this, with the formulation of concrete proposals that allow us to obtain these fruits. We take this opportunity to invite you to join our efforts to our struggle, either with personal participation in the tasks ahead, or with donations that may allow us to have the necessary resources to fulfill these tasks.

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Editorial July 30 2023

THE LAST CELAC-EU MEETING, CONCERN AND SADNESS FOR THE REGION

Climate change is accelerating faster than expected, and humanity is already beginning to suffer its very serious consequences.

In fact, the average temperature increase of 1.5° above pre-industrial values, originally estimated by experts to be reached by the year 2050, and which served as the basis for taking measures to counteract it, is expected to be reached next year, 26 YEARS EARLIER THAN EXPECTED, to the point that the UN Secretary General himself has dramatically expressed that "The climate crisis is killing us"

Just look at what Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Institute for Special Studies, recently said: "The current heat wave is not a surprise and it will continue, because we continue to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and until we stop doing so, TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO RISE".

In order for humanity to face it successfully, two key aspects must be kept in mind: It is a phenomenon that affects all of humanity and its solution is political. Not ideologically speaking, but taken by the States.

THE UN IS NOT UP TO THE CHALLENGE

The United Nations, which should be the ideal organization to deal with this type of situation, is not, since it was designed to solve warlike situations, and is inoperative in the face of such situations, as we have seen in the recent COVID 19 pandemic.

In this scenario, it is vital that Latin Americans and Caribbeans have a united and strong voice to defend the interests of the region and the planet because, in addition, we are the continent that is suffering, and will suffer the most from the effects of Climate Change.

But we are very far from achieving this unity of action, as we saw in the recent EU-CELAC summit, which left deep feelings of sadness and concern.

Sadness, because we could see how our region was presented without an agenda or common objectives that could successfully complete the defense of the Latin American and Caribbean peoples.

Concern, because the final declaration established concepts and actions that seriously harm us, meekly accepted by the governments of the region.

NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF THE DECLARATION

In order not to go into too much detail, we will highlight only a few points:

* It institutionalizes the practice of directly establishing agreements between the European Union as such and individual countries, behind the back and against the interests of the rest of the CELAC countries;

* The guarantee of the "supply chain" and the guarantee of access to raw materials from our continent was established as a point of the highest order;

* No convincing actions were taken regarding Climate Change, drifting towards the quasi-useless agendas of the already abundant international meetings on the subject;

* The interference of the European Union in the internal affairs of our States is accepted, with phrases such as that of demanding "credible" elections. Credible by whom? by them? And if they are not credible, what would give them the right?

* The issue of the decolonization of our region, in which colonies such as French Guiana, Puerto Rico, the islands of Great Britain, Holland and France and the Falklands still survive, was omitted. This topic was treated as a salute to the flag, but, certainly, treated at last for the first time;

* No forceful action was taken to address the deplorable episodes of migration and drug trafficking.

* There was no explicit condemnation of the plans for military intervention in Haiti, nor the assassination of its President, nor the coups against Evo Morales and Castillo, nor the stripping of Venezuela's valuable assets in countries allied to the EU, nor even a policy of common action against governments that have come to power by force.

* In the case of Ukraine, it was shameful that the delegations took sides by declaring "the ongoing war against Ukraine", instead of "the war in Ukraine", ignoring the peaceful nature of our peoples and boycotting any attempt to re-establish peace. * No forceful action was taken to address the deplorable episodes of migration and drug trafficking.

* And to top it all off, continental support for the neocolonialist plan to "reform" the UN Security Council, incorporating NATO member or "friendly" countries such as Germany, Japan and Brazil with permanent status, has been established.

THIS GENUFLECTING BEHAVIOR MUST CHANGE

With such behavior on the part of the states, the region cannot successfully face the challenges of the future.

Aware of this, our Association has set itself the goal of building a body that brings together NGOs and social organizations in the region, with which we share purposes and objectives, in order to build a powerful movement of action and continental outreach, to help chart the way to achieve, once and for all, a strong political, economic and social unity of our countries.

If you agree with the above and wish to join our struggle, individually or on behalf of any NGO or Social Movement, you can write to our email contacto@aprosima.com

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Editorial February 01, 2023

THE UNITY OF THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN PEOPLES WILL NOT BE ACHIEVED WITH THE PRESENT CELAC

It was demonstrated at the last CELAC meeting held in Argentina that this organization is not currently capable of carrying out the process of unity needed by the Latin American and Caribbean peoples.

This event was limited to the presentation of isolated ideas by some countries, without major previous debates, which in the end ended in nothing, such as the creation of a single Latin American currency; or the construction of a railway system to unite all our countries; or the creation of a Secretary General. Proposals that are really effective if they are part of a guiding project, but that on their own are useless, just as the construction of the Pan-American Highway, conceived at the time as a way for the economic development of the region, was useless.

To top off this inability, we saw how uncomfortable and revealing situations and frictions arose, such as the revelation of the epithets uttered by the Chilean Foreign Minister against the Argentine Foreign Minister, or the annoyance of Uruguay for being considered a minor partner of Mercosur, among other incidents.

The sad thing is that no decisive actions were taken in serious cases such as the shameful situation of the Haitian people; drug trafficking; migration; global warming; wars; the rude attitude of the head of the US Southern Command; or her shameless instruction to the International Court of Justice to rule against Venezuela, remaining only words.

This lack of clarity of the reality in which we live, which prevents us from having a common objective, is what makes it impossible to achieve the desired unity.

We reiterate our argument that it is necessary, and urgent, to take advantage of the presence of several progressive governments in the region so that they can be the seed of Latin American unity, elaborating a road map of concrete actions, probably not so ambitious or utopian.

This was the path of the few countries that formed the European Economic Community and culminated in the creation of the European Union. If they had waited for the consensus of all their nations, it would still only be a project.

WORLD REALITY IMPOSES THE PATH OF UNITY

In addition to the very serious problem of a population in the continent that for the most part cannot satisfy its needs, there is the real and practically imminent danger of the loss of sovereignty in the region, a consequence of both the acute shortage of raw materials at the global level that has produced the conflicts between East and West, and the pre-Christian conception that the leaders of most industrialized countries have of understanding that relations between human beings are necessarily based on a scheme of domination, of the master-slave type.

We have seen how in recent years the proclaimed values of democracy and the self-determination of peoples are being demolished for the sake of selfish interests, so it would be an illusion to imagine that, in the desperate situation of scarcity of raw materials in which the major powers find themselves, they would respect the sovereignty of Latin American countries.

If the progressive leaders of our continent do not become aware of these realities and act accordingly, it will be the Latin American and Caribbean peoples who will have the last word.

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Editorial March 01, 2023

UNITY AGAINST INFLATION IN THE AREA, THE RIGHT WAY FORWARD

The proposal made by the President of Mexico to form a front of Latin American countries to fight the current inflationary wave that is sweeping the region is correct.

This is a direct consequence of the high inflation currently being experienced by the main Western powers, with levels never seen since the 1930s, reaching, in some areas, accumulated figures of three digits since 2020. Inflation originated in its beginnings by the impact on the economy of the COVID 19 pandemic, and which has been exacerbated since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

As a result, on the one hand, manufactured goods imported by Latin America from industrialized countries have risen considerably in price, which has had a strong impact on the costs of local supply chains.

On the other hand, the lower purchasing power of those powers, as a result of their galloping inflation, has reduced the demand for the goods and services that our region has traditionally offered them.

The joint action of our nations proposed by López Obrador must go beyond short-term solutions.

IT IS TIME TO START GUARANTEEING THE FUTURE

These bitter experiences should serve as a basis for designing a road map that will allow the economies of our countries to definitively reach the required levels of self-sufficiency, so that never again will the obstacles of nature or the irrational warlike actions of some of the madmen who lead these powers affect our peoples so negatively.

The immense power represented by the countries mentioned above, which in principle would form part of this anti-inflationary front, constitutes a sufficiently solid support to achieve it.

Indeed, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras and Mexico together have a potential market of more than 475 million inhabitants, with a surface area of more than 16.4 billion square kilometers and a global gross domestic product of more than 6.8 trillion dollars.

This road map is necessary because, what this situation has made perfectly clear, is that the economic model of dependence imposed on our countries since the end of World War II, based fundamentally on activities such as foreign tourism, the internal commercialization of products manufactured abroad, with a modest industry, mostly in the hands of transnationals, and the export of raw materials and agricultural products to other continents, has failed.

This failure had already shown itself to be incapable of satisfying the needs of the growing population of our countries, and has generated serious social upheavals in the area.

This economic system must be replaced by one that is oriented towards the production and interregional exchange (equitable and beneficial for all) of goods and services that satisfy the needs of our population, preventing the imposition of odious protagonisms, as we have seen in the disastrous experience of the EU, where most of its countries are veritable neo-colonies of two great powers, Germany and France.

Such a system must go beyond the simple production of food, generating the necessary wealth through a powerful industrial apparatus, leveraged on the enormous natural resources that we possess, today exploited, for the most part, by foreign powers.

It is essential for the success of this objective that it be internalized by the majority of the population. But we must understand that this has a major obstacle, and that is that this extractive, agricultural and non-industrial model has created a whole ecosystem, to give it a name, of businessmen, politicians, military, media, etc. who have benefited and continue to benefit from it and who, as we have seen recently in Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, etc., oppose tooth and nail any change in this neocolonial paradigm.

To overcome this resistance and achieve the ideological hegemony of development and welfare for the population, it is necessary to build a political behavior, not of confrontation, but of conviction. And in this aspect it is vital to transcend the mere initiative of governments, achieving transversal action in the region, of the different components of our societies: Universities, Trade Unions, Business Associations, Political Parties, etc.

WALKING WITH BOTH FEET DEFENDING THE ENVIRONMENT

In addition, it is urgent that this initiative also includes the fight against global climate change that has affected and continues to affect our countries, as we have recently seen in the fires in Chile, the droughts in Argentina and Uruguay, the floods in Brazil, the mudslides in Peru, etc., etc.

We must start now with, to mention just one example, achieving a Colombian-Venezuelan agreement that goes beyond the merely economic aspect, and prohibits the exploitation of coal by German and Chinese multinationals in the Goajira and the Sierra del Perijá, due to its highly depredatory effect on the environment.

It is time to erase the hypocrisy of the past and move from blah, blah, blah, to facts.

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Editorial May 30, 2023

ABOUT THE LAST MEETING OF SOUTH AMERICAN LEADERS

As was unfortunately demonstrated at the recent meeting of South American leaders, the President of Brazil was quite right when he stated that excessive ideologization is the main reason why Latin Americans and Caribbean countries have not been united in the pursuit of our integration.

It is imperative that our Latin American and Caribbean community, which is suffering its consequences in a dramatic way, has a decisive weight within them to promote effective decision making to successfully confront Climate Change.

The unfortunate thing is that, for reasons other than environmental ones, including changes in the world economy, the recent COVID 19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, there is a growing feeling of the need to design a new structure for the United Nations. Indeed, its Secretary General has recently made a clear statement on the subject.

THE ROLE OF OUR COUNTRIES IN THIS NEW WORLD ORDER

If we want to protect ourselves from the effects of Climate Change, our countries must play a leading role in the construction of this new world and not leave it exclusively in the hands of its main causes.

We cannot fall into the same mistake made when World War II ended and the United Nations was created, a process in which our region alienated its positions and interests in the hands of the victorious powers, despite the fact that countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Mexico had an outstanding degree of development that justified their leading role.

This erroneous conduct, which deprived Latin America and the Caribbean of a powerful voice in the international arena, led to the subsequent use of most of our governments as mere pawns in the conflicts between the great powers, causing us to suffer a succession of disastrous events, such as coups d'état, assassinations, cruel dictatorships, civil wars, etc., which castrated our development, to the point of suffering from growing poverty in large social sectors of our countries.

In this new international order that is emerging, it is mentioned that Brazil would have a permanent seat in the Security Council of the United Nations, a fact that seems to us excellent in the defense of our peoples.

But there is a danger that could threaten this defense, and that is the fact that in the future, the country's leaders could come to power because of their extreme ideology, or because they represent the interests of the predators of the Amazon, and act against the causes of the rest of the region.

That is why the other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean should also have a permanent seat in the Security Council.

There are plenty of reasons. For example, our combined population (more than 450 million inhabitants) is double that of Brazil (209 million inhabitants). The same is true of GDP. According to

the IMF, the GDP PPP in millions of dollars of our countries as a whole will total 8,410,944 by the year 2023, while Brazil, according to the same estimate, will reach 4,020,381.

In simple words, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have significant power on the world scene and we must know how to use it to our advantage. To this end, we must achieve a union whose conduct rises above this harmful ideologization, acting for the common good, in which the fight against climate change plays a major role.

AGAINST THE FORMATION OF ISOLATED REGIONAL BLOCS

On the other hand, there is a danger that, with the South American union of nations, the old purpose of the great powers to divide the region into disconnected blocs will materialize. In the past, we have seen this with Mercosur, the Andean Community, the Central American Union, etc.

Latin American and Caribbean unity must include all, or most, of its countries in a single bloc. There is no other.

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Editorial 2023/06/30

THE CELAC-EU MEETING, A SAD MIRROR OF REALITY

The upcoming meeting in Paris between the European Union and CELAC, scheduled for mid-July, should serve as a mirror for Latin Americans and Caribbeans to contemplate our sad reality.

In effect, that meeting will be attended by a European Union that is already constituted, with physical headquarters for its various bodies; with a parliament that is functioning and legislating and whose laws and resolutions are obeyed by its members; with a single currency; with symbols and anthem; with a bureaucratic structure that covers practically all aspects of governance; with a solid management team and, most importantly, with very clear objectives to be achieved in our region, such as guaranteeing access to raw materials and ensuring that our countries open up unconditionally to the commercialization of the products they produce.

That voracity for our resources, even disrespecting the resolutions taken by international organizations to address Climate Change, as we see, for example, in actions as polluting as that of the German government seeking to exploit a large open-pit coal mine in the Colombian Goajira.

On the other hand, we Latin Americans and Caribbeans will be attending under the figure of an organization that, practically speaking, functions only on paper, with no headquarters, no major bureaucratic structure, and worse still, without a union of objectives. Faced with this reality, what negotiating power do we have to defend our interests? How can our proposals be taken seriously? How can we be the protagonists of our own destiny?

And even sadder is the position of the "progressive" President of Brazil, Ignacio "Lula" Da Silva, who seeks to drag the other Mercosur countries into an economic agreement with the European Union, disregarding the interests of the rest of the Latin American community. In this situation, the other members of Mercosur have the floor.

A particularly serious fact, since the major powers intend to place Brazil as a permanent representative in the Security Council IN REPRESENTATION OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN!

In the face of events such as these, we must have a coherent and firm stance on issues such as the brain drain, whose training costs our countries billions of valuable foreign currency without receiving anything in return; the transfer of industrial know-how; the protection of our local production; the fight against climate change; European permissibility in the face of drug trafficking; emigration; among others.

This structural deficiency should be, by itself, a more than powerful reason for us to start immediately on the road to union and integration.

The conditions are in place. It is enough to see how the recent meeting of CELAC science and technology ministers was held quickly, massively and successfully in Caracas.

WE MUST KEEP IN MIND THAT THE VERY SERIOUS PROBLEMS WE SUFFER TODAY ARE A CONSEQUENCE OF THE NEGLIGENCE OR IGNORANCE OF PAST LEADERS, AND THAT THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE A CONSEQUENCE OF THE ACTIONS OF TODAY'S LEADERS. THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE A CONSEQUENCE OF THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY TODAY'S LEADERS.

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