Getting your player ready...
BOGOTÁ — The leaders of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries are gathering in Venezuela today to forge a new organization that will include every nation in the region except the United States and Canada.
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, will supplant the Rio Group and some are hoping it will replace the Organization of American States, which they accuse of being a U.S. mouthpiece.
The event culminates Saturday with the signing of the Caracas Declaration that formally launches the bloc. Chile will head the organization in its first year, followed by Cuba in 2013.
