Antigua & Barbuda’s Prime Minister broke ranks from his colleagues, who, at the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit condemned US President Donald Trump’s plan to build a wall along the US – Mexican border.
Ten heads of state and 33 foreign ministers were gathered at the annual CELAC Summit, on Wednesday, to debate ways to confront a new regional reality, when US news agencies in Washington reported that Trump signed an executive order to start the Mexico border wall project.
“I have nothing to say on Trump at this time,” Prime Minister Gaston Browne told OBSERVER media yesterday.
Latin American leaders at the summit condemned Trump’s plans to build an “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall” between the US and Mexico.
“We have to protect ourselves from the aggressive policy of persecuting migrants. The attacks against human rights is one of the central topics that brought us to this Summit,” Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa was quoted in the international media, as saying.
“Our commitment is to defend the right to migrate, the most important form of movement. It is not the flow of capital or the flow of merchandise, but rather the mobility of human beings, which is a human right,” Correa added.
Browne is in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for the Fifth Summit of Heads of State of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), where matters of the grouping and changes in Europe and North America are expected to feature on the agenda.
According to a press release, Prime Minister Browne said the meeting is very important to members of the grouping particularly with a new administration in the United States and the issues surrounding Brexit, and will seek to address issues of food security, drugs, and migration.
The Summit is expected to approve 19 resolutions on topics of interest to the grouping and conclude with the Political Declaration of Punta Cana and special declarations on topics common to CELAC members.