Mexico City, October 1 (RHC) -- Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez began this Saturday the activities related to the IX Meeting of the Puebla Group, which this time is in session in the homonymous city of Mexico, where it was born four years ago.

The head of the island's diplomacy was received by the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Laura Elena Carrillo on behalf of Secretary Alicia Bárcena, who is out of the country, and expressed the hope that his stay would be extremely productive.

The IX meeting was officially inaugurated today with the beginning of the activities that will last all day until the afternoon, with a list of speakers in plenary session.

After the brief ceremony and presentation by the coordinator of the Puebla Group, Marco Enríquez-Ominami, and the governor of Puebla, Sergio Salomón Céspedes, the order of interventions by the former presidents and high-ranking officials who are members of the group was proposed.

The appearances are divided into five rounds, the first of which will be made by Mexico as host, followed by El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, then Ecuador, Peru and Panama, followed by Bolivia, Dominican Republic and Paraguay, and then Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, to end with Portugal and Spain.

Tomorrow, Sunday, the last day of the activities, the other participants in this meeting, already considered the most important for the moment in which it is taking place, will do the same.

This is due to the serious international political, economic and social situation caused by an epochal change that is generating convulsions and is characterized by an increase in poverty and inequality, which are the detonators of the humanitarian crisis and world leadership.

According to the program, the members of the Puebla Group will publish their proposals, which include: the creation of a common currency and a new multilateralism.

Also, the convergence of their sub-regional integration organizations, the new solidarity model of development, the energy transition and the insertion of the continent in the global South through spaces such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), among others.

The proposal for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia will be under debate, while a path to peace is being discussed.

The beautiful International Baroque Museum is the venue of the event where it is estimated that there are already more than 200 participants, although important leaders such as Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula, Alberto Fernández and former Presidents Pepe Mujica, Dilma Rousseff, who support this event and will give their virtual greetings, were unable to attend.

The work will be carried out in thematic tables on the proposals of the agenda that will outline the bases of his progressive international policy. Enríquez-Ominami assured that this space is important because "Latin America and the Caribbean have regained their voice through progressive governments and together we can propose a change to the region".

Among the announcement of new confirmed participants are: the president-elect of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, and the vice-president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. (Source: Prensa Latina)