Madrid, 9 (European Press)
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomatic official, stressed on Sunday the “clear position” under the protection of international law that the Union supports in the face of US attacks against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean.
Callas is in the Colombian city of Santa Marta to participate in the fourth summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union, a meeting attended by representatives of more than forty countries, including heads of state and government, in addition to twenty international organizations.
Delegations are working to reach a final declaration through discussions on the possible response to the US military attacks, which have been condemned by the United Nations and several humanitarian organizations that describe the bombings against alleged drug boats (which have already left some 70 people dead) as extrajudicial executions.
In this regard, Callas stressed that “the European Union’s position is clear: under international law, force can only be used for two reasons: in self-defense or in the wake of a UN Security Council resolution.”
In general, he stated that the gathered delegations are preparing to address many issues, from climate change to citizen security and combating organized crime, including climate change and protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens of the countries present at the meeting.
He pointed out, “We are miles apart, but we share the same values. We believe in international law. We believe in a rules-based system. We believe in the rule of law and democracy.”
Finally, Callas downplayed the absence of heavyweights at the Santa Marta summit, starting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, or the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. “You have to ask those who are absent, but you know, there is a saying: Let us thank those who are present.”
The Colombian president and summit host, Gustavo Petro, accused “forces other than peace” of causing the “failure” of the EU/GELAC summit. “In the new fossil and undemocratic geopolitics, the goal is to prevent people who want freedom and democracy from coming together,” he said in a recent message on social networks.
Earlier, the Colombian authorities indicated that 12 Latin American leaders and seven foreign ministers would attend the international summit.
The meeting in Santa Marta comes in a complete escalation of tensions with the United States after the Pentagon’s operations against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and with the accumulation of naval and air resources at various bases in the region, each time Donald Trump threatened to intervene militarily in Venezuela to remove Nicolas Maduro, who said his days were numbered.
The ideological division within the American continent does not help either, an example of which is the Dominican Republic’s move to postpone “indefinitely” the Summit of the Americas that was to be held this week in Punta Cana, waiting for the event to take place in 2026 and in a “productive” manner. The Dominican authorities decided not to invite Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba, claiming that this way the attendance would be larger, but countries such as Mexico and Colombia also ruled out participation as a gesture of solidarity.
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