Argentina: BRICS, CELAC and the OAS

WTF is Going on in Latin America & The Caribbean

Today’s Episode: Argentina-BRICS, CELAC and the OAS

Guest: Franco Metaza,Director-General for Foreign Affairs of the Argentina National Senate.

Guest Bio:

Franco Metaza is a political activist of Argentina. He is involved in the peronist-kirchnerista movement of “La Campora”.

He has a degree in Government and International Relations. He did his degree thesis on the Mercosur Parliament.

He has held different positions related to international relations in the General Secretary of Argentina Presidency, Chamber of Representatives and the National Bank of Argentina.

He participated in several G20 summits leading the youth delegation from his country (Mexico 2012, Russia 2013, Australia 2014).

He is currently pursuing a PhD in Defense.

Background:

"While the White House was thinking about what else to turn off in the world, ban or spoil, Argentina and Iran applied to join the BRICS," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, currently in Europe, recently reiterated his desire for his country to join BRICS.

An Argentine government source said there was no "formal process" to do so as yet but that was the country's intention.

"Argentine authorities have already publicly expressed their willingness to join. It is a process that has only just begun," the source said, asking not to be named.

Glossary:

BRICS

The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 to describe the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South Africa joined in 2010.

BRICS account for more than 40% of the world's population and about 26% of the global economy.

China is currently Argentina’s main trading partner outside South America.

India is Argentina’s fourth largest trading partner and the fourth largest destination of Argentina’s exports

CELAC

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is an intergovernmental mechanism for dialogue and political agreement, which includes permanently thirty-two countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a regional forum that brings together all of Latin America and the Caribbean countries.

Argentina is now the president pro-tem of CELAC succeeding Mexico after the summit in Mexico City September 18, 2021

OAS

The Organization of American Statees is an international organization that was founded on 30 April 1948 for the purposes of solidarity and co-operation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in the US capital, Washington, D.C., the OAS has 34 members, which are independent states in the Americas.^[2] Since the 1990s, the organization has focused on election monitoring. The head of the OAS is the Secretary General; the incumbent is Uruguayan Luis Almagro.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Observing the Observers: The OAS in the 2019 Bolivia Elections

In partnership with Common Frontiers, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action and Task Force on the Americas, original broadcasts of WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean can be viewed every Wednesday at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET on CODEPINK YouTube Live