In a video statement broadcast by Noticias 24 in Venezuela, one of many state-owned media outlets in the troubled South American nation, President Nicolás Maduro affirmed that a group of terrorists have traveled to Costa Rica with the intention of threatening him. Such was the report published by online news daily CRHoy.com earlier today.

President Maduro is one of many Caribbean and Latin American leaders who will participate in the 2015 Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which Costa Rica currently presides. In the aforementioned video, the President of Venezuela states:

We have taken all security measures, and the Government of Costa Rica is giving us complete support. Flying the flag of [late President Hugo] Chavez and without fear of stormy weather, I will attend the CELAC summit in Costa Rica so that the voice of Venezuela can be heard, and so that I can carry the civic morality of our people, and to highlight the reality of the Bolivarian revolution.

CELAC is a powerful bloc of nations that brings together most of the Americas, except for Canada, the United States and the Caribbean territories of European nations such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France. Thirty-three nations make up CELAC; they are united by a collaborative spirit that seeks to shake off centuries of economic and political dependence on the United States and its most powerful allies.

One of the subtle cultural goals of CELAC is to promote multilanguage integration across the region. Although most of the bloc speaks Spanish, four other languages are spoken in the region: English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese. Since the first CELAC summit in 2010, learning of English and Portuguese has greatly increased in Costa Rica.

The 2015 CELAC Summit will take place from January 28 to the 29 in Belen.