Demands to declare the region as a Peace Zone, investigate alleged executions reported by the UN, and lift sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela
Image from the IX Summit of Heads of State and Government CELAC
Written by: La Tabla/Data Journalism Platform 9 NOV 2025
President Nicolás Maduro delivered a letter read by Foreign Minister Yvan Gil at the CELAC-EU summit in Caracas, where he criticized a “modern military siege” in the Caribbean involving nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. In the document, Maduro draws a historical parallel to the Spanish expedition of 1815 that sent 60 ships and 10,000 soldiers to reclaim territories, asserting: “Two centuries later, the forms of siege have evolved, but the objective remains: to subjugate our peoples.”
The letter references UN reports about “extrajudicial executions at sea” during foreign military operations, demanding an independent investigation. Maduro opposes the resurgence of the Monroe Doctrine as a tool for intervention, advocating for the Bolivarian Doctrine based on self-determination and horizontal cooperation among sovereign nations.
The president advocates for declaring Latin America and the Caribbean as a “Zone of Peace,” banning any regional militarization. He recalls Simón Bolívar’s legacy to emphasize that the mestizo Latino identity is “creative and sovereign,” highlighting that “only unity will set us free.”
He condemns the blockade against Cuba as a “flagrant aggression against International Law” and demands the immediate lifting of unilateral sanctions from the US, Canada, and the EU. He suggests transforming Santa Marta —the site of Bolívar’s death in 1830— into “the cradle of a new phase of continental unity,” quoting his phrase: “Peace will be my harbor, my glory, my reward.”
Maduro concludes that the region must choose between “being the subject of its own destiny or a 21st-century colony.” The letter, diplomatically presented on November 9, 2025, during the CELAC-EU summit, constitutes an urgent call for continental unity against what he names a new imperial offensive against Latin American and Caribbean sovereignty.