Brazil returns to CELAC as full member

Brasilia, January 6 (RHC)-- The Brazilian government said on Thursday that the country "fully and immediately" is to rejoin the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), a bloc from which it had left in January 2020 under the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

"The Brazilian government communicates to the member countries of CELAC, through the appropriate diplomatic channels, the reincorporation of Brazil, fully and immediately, to all the instances of the mechanism, both political and technical in nature," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed in an official note.

The new Brazilian government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which took office on January 1st, considers that Brazil's return to the Latin American community of States is "an indispensable step for the reconstitution of the diplomatic heritage" and the full reinsertion of Brazil in international coexistence.

In addition, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry also confirmed that Lula accepted the invitation of the President of Argentina, who holds the presidency of the forum and will participate in the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of CELAC, to be held in Buenos Aires on January 24th.

CELAC was formally established in February 2010 to promote political dialogue and concerted regional cooperation and is made up of 33 countries.

When the Bolsonaro government decided that Brazil should leave the group, the then foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, claimed that CELAC did not achieve progress in favor of democracy and that it was a platform in favor of "authoritarian regimes," such as those of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.