Speech by President Lula on the occasion of the CELAC Virtual Summit

Dear comrade Xiomara Castro, pro-tempore president of CELAC, whom I thank for the timely and necessary convening of this meeting

Dear friends, Heads of State and Government, and other members of our CELAC,

I am deeply saddened that, less than two months after the Kingstown Summit, we are meeting to discuss the invasion of the Mexican Embassy by armed police forces from Ecuador.  

A measure of this nature had never occurred, not even in the worst moments of disunity and disagreement in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Not even during the dark days of the military dictatorships in our continent. 

What happened in Quito on April 5th is simply unacceptable, and its effects are beyond just Mexico.

It concerns us all.

A formal apology from Ecuador is a first step in the right direction.

I also view positively Bolivia's proposal to establish a commission comprised of CELAC countries to jointly monitor the situation and the health of former Vice President Jorge Glas alongside the Ecuadorian government.

This would give us time to move forward with discussions on a necessary safe-conduct for his departure from the country.

Given the seriousness of the situation, we must clearly express the region's unequivocal rejection of what happened.

The absolute inviolability of diplomatic missions and personnel, as established by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, is one of those pillars of international law that does not allow exceptions, whatever the justification.

Latin America has a pioneering humanitarian tradition in defense of the right to diplomatic asylum.

Exactly 70 years ago we signed the Caracas Convention on Diplomatic Asylum.

The International Court of Justice itself has dealt with the issue and was very clear about it in the Haya de la Torre case between Colombia and Peru.

So absolutely nothing justifies the scene we witnessed in Quito.

Our challenge now is to find ways to rebuild trust and dialog.

We need to look ahead and find ways to overcome this crisis.

We must not wait for the conflict to be resolved from the outside. We need to make the most of our own means and instances.

This is essential for CELAC to continue being our region's premier mechanism for integration and consultation.

Our region has already been subjected to colonialism and unilateral action by major powers. We don't want that for our populations.

We are a plural region. We will continue to have differences in views and opinions, but above all we are committed to resolving them through dialogue and diplomacy.

In this sense, I see Mexico's appeal to the International Court of Justice as positive.

It is also essential that CELAC continues to work towards re-establishing dialogue and normalizing relations between Ecuador and Mexico, two important partners of Brazil and fundamental for consolidating regional integration. 

And finally, I would like to call on everyone to commit to making sure that episodes like this never happen again in our region.

Thank you very much.