In the midst of the ongoing Trump Tariffs situation, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum flew to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, for a meeting of CELAC.
What is CELAC?
CELAC is the “Community of Latin American States”. The acronym CELAC is based on Spanish, in which it is the Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños.
CELAC is seen as an alternative to the Organization of American States (OAS), based in Washington, D.C.
So there are two Western Hemisphere organizations, the OAS and CELAC.
Membership-wise, both organizations have 33 member states. The difference is that Cuba and Nicaragua are not in the OAS, while the U.S. and Canada are not in CELAC.
A CELAC summit was held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the big day was April 9th, 2025. Representatives of the member states were there, including 11 heads of state. A delegation from China was also in attendance.
President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico was in attendance. And she made a grand entrance. Here is a photo of President Sheinbaum arriving, with Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente on her right.
Here’s how France 24 describes the meeting: “The calls for unity of purpose were made in Honduras at a meeting of the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), also attended by China — seeking to replace the United States as the main political and economic influence in the region.”
“Eleven CELAC heads of state attended the deliberations, including leftist leaders Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico — Latin America’s biggest economies — as well as Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and host Xiomara Castro.”
” ‘We cannot continue walking separately when the world is reorganizing,’ Castro said as the talks got underway in the capital Tegucigalpa.”
” ‘The United States is redrawing its economic map without asking which peoples are left behind,’ she said.”
And Sheinbaum?
“Sheinbaum, for her part, said economies in the region must diversify their markets and focus more on ‘integration and helping each other.’ “
As I pointed out in a previous article, in recent years China has greatly increased its economic ties with Latin America, and is now South America’s biggest trading partner. And China had a delegation at the CELAC meeting.
The Chinese delegation was active at the CELAC summit. From France 24: “In Honduras, a Chinese delegation led by Qu Yuhui, Beijing’s number two for Latin American Affairs, has been holding bilateral meetings with CELAC delegates since Monday — including envoys from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba.”
“Beijing also plans to host a China-CELAC ministerial conference on May 13, to be attended by Xi.”
“ ‘China is set to increase its influence in Latin America; it is a gift from the United States,’ Peruvian international relations analyst Francisco Belaunde told AFP.”
“ ‘China wants to appear now as a reliable partner that is in favor of free trade, it wants to take advantage of the mess generated by Trump and the annoyance of all countries over these tariffs,’ he added.”
Mexico’s trade with China has grown, but is still less than its trade with the U.S. But when the dust has settled from the Trump Tariffs, what will the situation be?
Stay tuned…