Faced with a profound political division and under the shock of the measures of US President Donald Trump, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed on Wednesday, the 9th, that the leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean community (Celac) “leave the differences aside” and coordinate their insertion in the world so that they do not see each other as the influence zone of what he called “new and old powers”.
The petista calibrated his speech in Honduras to respond mainly to the Trump government actions that most impacted the region – mass deportations of immigrants and commercial tariff – and sharing the vision that the formation of a new global order with China and the United States is ongoing.
“The story teaches us that commercial wars have no winners,” said Lula, a week after Trump, triggering the imposition of reciprocal tariffs that surpassed at 10% all exports of most Latin American and Caribbean countries except Venezuela (15%) and Nicaragua (18%) dictatorships.
For Lula, the moment is one of the most critical of history for a region that surpassed slavery and military dictatorships, but still lives with misery, social exclusion and hunger.
“The interference of old and new powers has been and is a perennial shadow throughout this process. Now our autonomy is again in Check. Attempts to restore old hegemonies hang again over our region,” said Lula. “Freedom and self -determination are the first victims of a world without multilaterally agreed rules. Migrants are criminalized and deported under degrading conditions. Arbitrary tariffs destabilize the international economy and raise prices.”
The president suggested the intensification of the commercial and economic integration of countries as a way to “protect against unilateral actions”. He mentioned that Brazil’s trade with Celac is $ 86 billion a year, higher than with the US.
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Lula defended investments in transportation, energy and telecommunications infrastructure to drain goods and services, such as bioceanic corridors and South American integration routes. He said the Brazilian government could reactivate a reciprocal payment agreement and credits with Aladi and expand the local currency payment system.
Lula proposed in Tegucigalpa, Honduran capital, that Celac change its operation rules to escape paralysis. He suggested the creation of a working group that discusses ways for the entity to function without the need to make decisions for consensus.
In the Brazilian diagnosis, the rule has been preventing manifestations and joint actions because of the political fragmentation between right and left governments in the Americas and the Caribbean. For the president, the expectation of uniformity is “unrealistic”.
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“If we follow separately, the Latin American and Caribbean community risks returning to the condition of zone of influence, in a new division of the globe between superpowers. The moment requires that we leave the differences aside,” said Lula. “Our integration is an unavoidable task that should not be at the mercy of ideological divergences.”
The president said that in the early 2000s there was a plural and pragmatic spirit among the leaders, who led to the creation of Celac and Unasur (South American Union)-the latter an organism that he failed to try to relaunch two years ago.
He cited to Celac joint response initiatives from organizations such as Asean, the European Union and the African Union. “It is imperative that Latin America and the Caribbean redefine its place in the new global order that unveils. Our international insertion should not be guided in defensive action,” he said.
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For Lula, the 33 countries in the region should coordinate actions on three topics: to defend threats to democracy; contain and overcome climate change, requiring more rich countries for fair transition and emission reduction goals; and overcome hunger and poverty.
The petista said that the global alliance against hunger and poverty will inaugurate the first projects in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He criticized Big Techs against sovereignty of countries, attempts at state blows or imposing democracy, dissemination of hatred and misinformation that misrepresent freedom of expression and negationism; He spoke in the risk of rising sea level to Caribbean islands and coastal zones, the collapse of the Amazon and the defrost of Antarctica.
Lula also proposed, under applause, that Celac adopt the defense of a unique candidacy, a woman, to the position of United Nations Secretary-General in 2026. The idea faces resistance from conservative governments, such as Javier Milei.
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While Celac met with mainly leftist leaders in Honduras, Milei received a visit from Paraguayan Santiago Peña in Buenos Aires.
The ninth summit of Celac decided in Tegucigalpa that, after the term of Colombia in 2025, Uruguay will take over the rotating presidency in 2026. The initiative is of a new left government, the newly deposed president Yamandú Orsi.
