Castro: CELAC most important event for LatAmerica in 200 years

Dec 2, 2011, 17:20 GMT

Caracas - The creation Friday in Caracas of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is the most important event for the region in 200 years, Cuban President Raul Castro said.

'For the first time in history we are going to have an organization that is ours,' Castro said as he arrived at Caracas airport.

'If it works, if it is successful - it's not just the fact of creating it and giving it a name, - we can regard this as the biggest event in the 200 years of semi-independence we have had so far,' he added.

Latin American and Caribbean leaders are meeting Friday and Saturday in Caracas to create CELAC, an organization that is set to bring together 33 countries with a total population of 550 million.

CELAC is to hold the same nations as the Organization of American States (OAS), except for the United States and Canada. Several political analysts have noted that the new organization seeks to replace the OAS, which was created in 1948.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is hosting a summit that had originally been planned for early July, but had to be postponed after Chavez was diagnosed with cancer.

Presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Sebastian Pinera of Chile are among the leaders in attendance.