Latin America seeks its own voice in a turbulent world

You have to go back to September 2017 to find seven Latin American heads of state gathered in the same place. And it was away from home, during the UN General Assembly in New York. Donald Trump had been in the White House for nine months, at the helm of a presidency that at that time barely hinted at what was to come. Eight years have passed, Trump is back in power for a second term, and the world is in turmoil. The far right is gaining ground in the region, left-wing governments are struggling to survive the trade war and Trump’s military threat (he has already intervened in Venezuela), and the rules that governed the world since the end of World War II have been torn up. This scenario gives an idea of ​​the geopolitical dimension of the Latin America and Caribbean International Economic Forum 2026, which began Wednesday in Panama, organized by CAF — Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean with the support of Grupo Prisa (publisher of EL PAÍS) through the World in Progress (WIP) forum. A meeting primarily intended to strengthen trade ties has transformed into a highly political, multilateral regional summit — a much-needed Latin American Davos. Seven heads of state, a president-elect, and 6,000 guests discussed Latin America’s role in the new world.

The Executive President of CAF, Sergio Díaz Granados, opened the forum. “This has become the most important event for mobilization and alliances. Latin America and the Caribbean have the necessary pieces to resolve their dilemmas,” he said. He was followed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Leading Latin America’s largest economy — the second-largest being Mexico, which was notably absent from the forum — the leftist leader called for “regaining confidence in integration.” “In a global context of the breakdown of the liberal order, multilateralism is not enough. We must look to the European Union without forgetting our differences. There is a lack of conviction among regional leaders regarding the benefits of a more autonomous project,” Lula said, thus planting the seed for discussion.

Lula didn’t name Trump, but the shadow of the Republican was present. He also drew attention to the current state of integration policy. He recalled that the last summit between CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) and the EU, hosted by Colombia last November, nearly ended in disaster, as not even a joint declaration rejecting U.S. military operations against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Seas was signed. Lula traveled to Santa Marta in haste, so as not to leave the host, Gustavo Petro, alone, and left before the final document was signed. The White House had not yet kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and the region was unable to grasp the magnitude of the looming danger. It underestimated the possibility of a military operation in Caracas and focused its attention on the supposed U.S. offensive against drug trafficking. One month after a declaration calling for respect for the sovereignty of nations, Trump’s soldiers stormed into the Venezuelan capital by air, sea, and land in the early hours of January 3.

The Brazilian president drew attention to this, not so much regarding Maduro himself, but to the lack of regional responsiveness in identifying threats and addressing them decisively. That’s how fast the world is moving. “We have once again become a divided region, more focused on the outside than on our ourselves. We have allowed foreign conflicts and ideological disputes to take hold. The threats of political extremism and information manipulation are now part of our daily lives. Our summits have become empty rituals, from which the main regional leaders are absent,” Lula said.

The Forum in Panama will not produce a final document on Thursday, nor will it compel presidents to make political commitments. This made the discussions less binding and contributed to the success of the event. Without written commitments, words flowed freely and ideas flourished. There were no “three musketeers” (Hugo Chávez, Néstor Kirchner, and Lula da Silva), those who undermined the idea of ​​a Free Trade Area of ​​the Americas (FTAA) that President George W. Bush attempted to impose at the Summit of the Americas held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 2005. Nor did anyone say that it “smells of sulfur,” as Chávez did when speaking after the U.S. president at the UN in 2006. Trump wasn’t named, but everyone at the convention center in the Panamanian capital knew that his policies loomed like a dark and belligerent storm.

The host, President José Raúl Mulino, made his intentions clear with a carefully considered gesture. He took the visiting heads of state on a tour of the Cocolí Locks, key components of the expansion project that allowed the giant Neopanamax vessels to pass smoothly through the channel connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The group photo was dedicated to the White House and its threats regarding the sovereignty of the Panama Canal. Trump believes his ships pay too much to use an infrastructure project he considers his own. In the past, he has suggested the possibility of reclaiming it for Washington, although his interest later shifted to Venezuelan oil, without entirely eliminating the threat. In his speech, Mulino, a center-right politician, warned that the world is “on the cusp of a great storm” and called for Latin America to be “a counterweight of peace.” “It must unite as a single bloc because only in this way will it have negotiating power and be able to claim the place that is rightfully ours,” he said.

The photo op at the Forum brought together bitter enemies in the face of a common threat. Presidents who don’t speak to each other, some even engaged in high-stakes regional disputes, such as Petro and Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, embroiled in a tariff battle, found themselves in the same space — “I offer you the possibility of talking,” Petro told him, receiving no response from the Ecuadorian. The Colombian leader also met at the Forum with Chile’s José Antonio Kast, whom he had previously called a “Nazi.” “I would never shake his hand,” was Petro’s first statement after the Chilean leader’s victory in the presidential elections last December. Lula wanted to make it clear, in any case, that Kast would be welcome once he took office on March 11: barely after landing in Panama City, he met with the Chilean for an hour and a half. His press team quickly released the photograph, showing two heads of state who are ideological opposites shaking hands while smiling at the camera.

Kast arrived as president-elect. He called for more “character” from the region, without clarifying whether this meant standing up to the Trumpian advance. He was the only one who spoke about the tragedy of Venezuelan migration, the major topic of political discussions in Chile. “More than seven million Venezuelans have fled the country; we have failed as a region. Chile has welcomed them, but has also suffered because the economy has been overburdened, and the dream of homeownership has been lost,” he said. Kast campaigned by hammering home the imminent expulsion of all these Venezuelans, whom he accuses, without evidence, of causing the surge in urban violence in Chile, a country historically free of this problem. The Kast-Noboa axis was clear: crime is a scourge, order must be restored, and drug trafficking must be eradicated. Lula, Petro, and even Mulino didn’t even mention the issue.

Rodrigo Paz, elected president of Bolivia with the mission of ending nearly two decades of rule by the Movement for Socialism (MAS), the party of Evo Morales, promised to open his country to the world — “Bolivia is only viable if you are viable,” he said. Paz is a newcomer and has strived to present his country as an attractive destination for investment. He did not forget the dispute with Chile over Bolivia’s access to the sea, but opted for a somewhat original approach: “We have more ports than you, five borders. I offer Chile our ports as well, facing a vast ocean on the continent like Brazil.” If there’s no water, there’s plenty of land.

Ecuador’s President Noboa preferred to focus on domestic policy. He asserted that his country had achieved macroeconomic stability and made only a brief appeal for respect among presidents — without mentioning Petro by name. His speech contained no mention of a new world order, but it did address the dangers he considers most pressing: drug trafficking and corruption. Trump hovered over his speech, but as a voice speaking through him, without any hint of threat. Bernardo Arévalo, the president of Guatemala, also chose to speak in local terms, about the efforts he is making to reorganize a country mired in corruption and political patronage. Violence has now become a new burden. “We have made progress in security, but we know we are still far from the ideal situation. The path is clear for both Guatemala and the region: we need more unity, more coordination, integration and connection, a renewed and strengthened commitment to an international system based on law and peace.”

This Thursday marks the second and final day of the forum. The president of Grupo Prisa, Joseph Oughourlian; its vice president, Fernando Carrillo; and the editor of EL PAÍS, Jan Martínez Ahrens, will participate in the discussions. The central theme will remain the same: the need for Latin America to find its own voice in an increasingly turbulent world. While in the last century the strategy was that of a “non-aligned” front — encompassing governments worldwide dissatisfied with the division of the world imposed by the United States and the Soviet Union — the new reality seems to be converging toward a regional alliance that smooths over internal differences.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition