A high-stakes summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is opening in Santa Marta, Colombia, in a state of disarray. The meeting’s very relevance has been called into question due to the conspicuous absence of top-tier European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This has created a diplomatic vacuum before the talks have even begun.
Colombian officials are in full damage-control mode, attributing the no-shows to “scheduling conflicts” with an upcoming UN climate summit. They are desperately trying to shift the focus to the leaders who did attend, primarily Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and, in a last-minute development, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. However, the low turnout has undeniably weakened the summit’s intended impact.
This diplomatic weakness is colliding with a volatile regional security crisis. A US military operation against alleged drug-carrying vessels has killed more than 60 people, sparking outrage from the host nation. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has become a leading critic, calling the deaths “extrajudicial executions” and highlighting that Colombian citizens are among the dead and survivors.
President Lula’s attendance, while a boost, may steer the summit even further from its original script. His foreign ministry announced his visit is an act of “regional solidarity with Venezuela,” another country in the crosshairs of US military threats. Brazilian diplomats have confirmed that both the anti-drug operation and US President Donald Trump’s threats against Venezuela will be “natural” topics of discussion.
Caught in this perfect storm of low attendance and high tension, the summit’s official goals seem all but forgotten. The planned “Declaration of Santa Marta”—a benign agreement on renewable energy, technology, and food security—stands little chance of being the main headline. Instead, the meeting is shaping up to be a fractured, tense forum for regional leaders to air grievances about US military actions.
