Caracas, Venezuela, 7 Marh, 2008. Today the XX Summit of the Rio Group will take place in Dominican Republic. The Rio Group is a permanent mechanism of political consultation among Latin American and Caribbean States. It was founded in 1986 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after the fusion of Contadora Group (Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela) and the Support Group (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Peru). Initially, the Rio Group was devised during the Cold War era as an alternative body to the OAS. However, it has grown up to its own destiny in the region. Without a permanent Secretariat, the Rio Group works by yearly summits. During this XX Summit, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs accepted the incorporation of Haiti and Guyana as full and individual members. The Rio Group now has 20 State members: Argentina, Belice, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guayana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
During the Summit today, the current crisis in the Americas will be analysed. Presidents of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Nicaragua will be attending the Summit. Thus, there is much expectation over the outcome of the Summit. Brazil President, Lula Da Silva will not be in the Summit this time. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe arrived at Santo Domingo last night. Uribe met President Leonel Fernandez but refused to comment publicly on the current crisis with Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
More news to come.
Sources:Telesur, Listindiario, El Nacional, Diario Libre, El Caribe CDN, Hoy,
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