The new bloc would be an alternative to the Organisation of American States (OAS), the main forum for regional affairs in the past 50 years. Mexico is hosting a regional summit in the beach resort of Cancun.
The OAS has been dogged by rifts between some Latin American members and the US over economic policy and trade. It has also been criticised as promoting US interests over those of other members. The proposed new grouping was one of the main issues on the agenda of the two-day summit, ending on Tuesday.
It “must as a priority push for regional integration… and promote the regional agenda in global meetings,” Mr Calderon told the summit, which includes leaders and representatives from 32 countries.
Cuban President Raul Castro was quick to applaud Mr Calderon’s announcement as a historic move toward “the constitution of a purely Latin American and Caribbean regional organisation”.
Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 because of its socialist political system. In 2009, the OAS voted to lift Cuba’s suspension but the country has declined to rejoin.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez earlier expressed his support for the proposal, citing it as a move away from US “colonising” of the region. A US State Department official said he did not see the new body as replacing the OAS. The terms of the new bloc and whether it would replace the Rio Group of Latin American countries has not been clarified.
“It’s very important that we don’t try to replace the OAS,” said Chile’s President-elect Sebastian Pinera. “The OAS is a permanent organisation that has its own functions.”
On Monday, Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed that it begin operating in July 2011 with a summit hosted by Venezuela.
