A look at Cuba from previous CCTV America coverage

World Today

Cuba Nathan King

CCTV America’s Micheal Voss and Nathan King reported from the Celac summit in Havana January 2014.

NATHAN KING TAKES A RIDE IN A CLASSIC AMERICAN CAR ON THE STREETS OF HAVANA

PLAYLIST OF ALL CELAC STORIES FROM CUBA


CELAC PHOTO GALLERY
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CELAC-2014

WHAT IS CELAC? (Wikipedia)
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States is a regional bloc of Latin American and Caribbean states thought out on February 23, 2010, at the Rio GroupCaribbean Community Unity Summit,[2][3][4] and created on December 3, 2011, in CaracasVenezuela, with the signature of The Declaration of Caracas.[5] It consists of 33 sovereign countries in the Americas representing roughly 600 million people. Absent from the bloc are Canada and the United States, as well as the territories of Francethe NetherlandsDenmark and the United Kingdom in the Americas.[6]

CELAC is an example of a decade-long push for deeper integration within the Americas.[7] CELAC is being created to deepen Latin American integration and to reduce the once overwhelming 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), the regional body organised largely by Washington in 1948, ostensibly as a countermeasure to potential Soviet influence in the region.[7][8][9]

CELAC is the successor of the Rio Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development (CALC).[10] 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.[11]

CELAC comprises 33 countries speaking five different languages:

Eighteen Spanish-speaking countries (56% of the area, 63% of the population)

One Portuguese-speaking country (42% of the area, 34% of the population)

One French-speaking country (0.1% of the area, 1.6% of the population)

Twelve English-speaking countries (1.3% of the area, 1.1% of the population)

One Dutch-speaking country (0.8% of the area, 0.1% of the population)

Twelve countries are in South America, which accounts for 87% of the area and 68% of the population.