Photo: Prensa Latina.

By: Roberto Morejón

Concerns and complaints about the United States' emphasis on protectionism, the deportation of migrants and attacks on multilateralism were analyzed at the ninth summit of CELAC, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, held in Honduras.

The Tegucigalpa Declaration, adopted by consensus by 30 of the 33 countries present,

reaffirmed the commitment to strengthening CELAC.

This was considered praiseworthy in the face of the attempts of some people and forces from abroad to cause its collapse by magnifying the points of view that were not always in agreement.

But CELAC is approaching its tenth summit under the presidency pro tempore of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a tenacious defender of unity and consensus, especially in such difficult times when, according to him, it is dangerous to walk alone.

A concept that, according to the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is relevant "today more than ever".

With moderation and clarity, the first woman to hold the presidency of Mexico defended the role of migrants, including for the U.S. economy, and called to address the structural causes of inequality that cause them to leave our cities.

Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva not only emphasized the negative effects of protectionism and the use of tariffs as an instrument of power, but also called on Latin America and the

Caribbean to make themselves respected.

The United States is big, Lula stressed, economically, militarily and technologically, but the planet does not depend on it, he pointed out.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel denounced the treatment of migrants, the application of unilateral coercive measures such as the blockade, and emphasized the new variant of

pressure against the Caribbean archipelago.

He referred to the brutal campaign to stop Cuban health cooperation in more than 50

countries, at the risk of affecting many people.

Beyond these remarks, he highlighted the agreement reached in the Tegucigalpa Declaration to insist on the full validity of the proclamation of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace.

For analysts, the holding of the CELAC summit in the midst of a tense international situation, due to the imposition of tariffs on dozens of countries by the Trump administration and the inappropriate deportation of migrants in deplorable conditions, was striking.

As Honduran President Xiomara Castro pointed out, the United States is redrawing its economic map without asking which peoples are being left behind.