Thirty-three countries form a new regional grouping in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, to strengthen cooperation and challenge the hegemony of the U.S. The aim of CELAC is to be the voice of the region and, eventually, make the discredited Organisation of American States (OAS) irrelevant. All the 33 states in the region are members of the new regional bloc, which will be ranked among the biggest regional groupings in the world. More than 600 million people reside within the borders of CELAC member-countries. The Caracas Action Plan, approved during the summit, envisages closer interaction among member-states in the fields of energy and eradication of hunger and illiteracy and in overcoming environmental and humanitarian challenges. The top-most priority will be given to finding solutions to the grave economic challenges that the new international financial crisis has brought about. Read full article