Community of Latin American and Caribbean States

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is a regional bloc of Latin American and Caribbean states proposed on February 23, 2010, at the Rio Group–Caribbean Community Unity Summit, and created on December 3, 2011, in Caracas, Venezuela, with the signing of the Declaration of Caracas. It consists of 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and has five official languages.

CELAC was created to deepen Latin American integration and to reduce the significant influence of the United States on the politics and economics of Latin America. It is seen as an alternative to the Organization of American States (OAS), a regional body that was founded by United States and 21 other Latin American nations in 1948 as a countermeasure to potential Soviet influence in the region. Cuba, which was suspended from the OAS in 1962 and has since refused to rejoin, is a member of CELAC.

CELAC is the successor of the Rio Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development (CALC). In July 2010, CELAC selected President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and President of Chile Sebastián Piñera, as co-chairs of the forum to draft statutes for the organization.

Brazil decided to suspend its participation in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in January 2020 under the administration of Jair Bolsonaro. Following the 2022 Brazilian general election, newly elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signalled his intention to rejoin the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and effectively did so in the first days of his administration.