Summit of the Americas: An uncomfortable summit | Opinion

The IX Summit of the Americas, to be held in Los Angeles next week, is for Joe Biden an inopportune meeting. It is like one of those commitments that one makes without paying much attention, but ends up regretting when it comes time to fulfill them. Biden is obliged to receive a group of presidents among which there are very few with whom he has an affinity. If these meetings were conceived so that, for the only time in their mandate, the presidents of the United States fraternize with the other colleagues of the continent and, in this way, stamp a symbolic stamp on their policy towards Latin America, this task presents, this time too many mishaps.

It is a paradox, because the occasion seemed designed for Biden: very few leaders passed through the White House, if any, with more ties to the region than he did. However, these days he has had to negotiate on several fronts so that this conference can become good news. The presidents of very important countries in this part of the world, such as Mexico, Brazil or Argentina, have an uncomfortable relationship with Washington, for different reasons. Friends preside over smaller countries: Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica. And in Colombia, the great ally in South America, the result could not be more regrettable for the Democrats. To prevent Gustavo Petro from prevailing in the second round, one would have to wish for the victory of Rodolfo Hernández, who is caricatured as “the Colombian Trump.”

Some superstitious person with a sense of humor might think that this disgruntled Biden trance is another line of Donald Trump’s poisoned heritage. Because he was the “culprit” that this Summit is in charge of the American Government. When the previous one was held, in Lima, in April 2018, the fickle Republican leader warned, at the last minute, that he would not go. Problems of laziness to move from the house. Blamefully, State Department officials wanted to make amends for that snub by promising that the United States would take charge of the next meeting. Trump was not re-elected. And Biden must deliver on his promise.

The first setback came from Mexico, which for United States diplomacy is the most relevant country. Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that he would not attend California. He could have argued that, like Trump, he doesn’t like to travel. But he lacked that bit of hypocrisy. He explained that his absence was due to the fact that Biden did not invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

A formal explanation is offered from Washington. Those who make the list of participants of these assemblies are the hosts. And the Government of the United States adjusted the selection to what is established in the Declaration of Quebec, issued at the Third Summit in April 2001, in its fifth paragraph: “The maintenance and strengthening of the rule of law and strict respect for the democratic system they are, at the same time, a shared purpose and commitment, as well as an essential condition for our presence at this and future Summits. Consequently, any unconstitutional alteration or rupture of the democratic order in a State of the Hemisphere constitutes an insurmountable obstacle for the participation of the Government of that State in the Summits of the Americas process.” In Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, for most of the countries in the region, dictatorships prevail.

It must be recognized that this time Biden has been more flexible. When he invited to the Summit of Democracy, which was held in December of last year, he also excluded Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The reasons for this rating change have not yet been explained.

The decision not to include Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela is inspired, in principle, by geopolitical reasons. The United States is involved in an international crisis unleashed by Putin as if it were participating in a war. And the regimes that govern those countries are allies of Russia. When Putin invaded Ukraine, his three presidents applauded him.

There are also domestic political motivations. Biden is campaigning. A photo with Miguel Díaz-Canel, Nicolás Maduro or Daniel Ortega would be used by the Republican candidates against the Democrats in states like California, Texas and, above all, Florida. The president is already receiving recriminations from his own ranks for relaxing the sanctions against Cuba by rehabilitating the flow of people and remittances; He is also accused of having established negotiations with Maduro, who for the United States is not the legitimate president of Venezuela, which led to the resumption of Chevron’s business in that country.

Even in this conflictive framework, Biden’s diplomats negotiated with Havana the invitation to the Los Angeles Summit in exchange for some liberalization that would justify it. So far no results.

Biden sent Christopher Dodd, in charge of political oversight of next week’s meeting, as an emissary to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Dodd is a friend of the president of great stature as a leader. He was at the head of the Democratic Party. He served in the Connecticut Senate for three decades. Before that, he was a representative for that same district for six years. The dimension of these antecedents highlights the importance that Biden attaches to the Summit not failing.

López Obrador did not give the arm to twist. Although his officials let it be known that Mexico will not participate in the counter-summit that could be called by the Argentine Alberto Fernández, who is the pro tempore president of CELAC. Deprived of the support of López Obrador, Fernández now began to relativize his initiative. It is not even clear if he himself will travel to Los Angeles. He is upset about the exclusions. If he does, he will say it was at López Obrador’s request. And of Maduro, who from Havana demanded that he complain to Biden about how he made his guest list.

One success for Dodd in Brasilia was getting Jair Bolsonaro to participate in the Los Angeles meeting. A troublesome win. He won the support of a far-right president who, at the time, defended Trump’s thesis, according to which Biden reached the White House through electoral fraud. That is to say: if it were up to Bolsonaro, Biden would have to exclude himself from his own summit.

But those complaints have been forgotten. What matters today about the Brazilian ex-military is not that he is pro-Trump, but that he is anti-Putin. From their arsenals, at the request of Germany, 300,000 ammunition was sent so that the Ukrainians could attack the Russians with Gepard armor.

The Brazilian negotiated his presence and got a meeting alone with Biden. Bolsonaro needs that photo. In a competition in which Lula da Silva has been leading him for months with 10 points in all the polls, the recognition of a Democratic president is important to him. It will be interesting to see how both resolve the most important difference that separates them: their position on environmental issues.

The challenge of climate change will be one of the issues that will be discussed in Los Angeles. Also the use of alternative energies. In addition, from Washington they are negotiating agreements on migrations, a main issue of the North American electoral campaign, which stirs up the Republican opposition. Here it is explained that Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, those ignored at the December summit, have been invited to the table.

The unknown that has not yet been cleared up: what level of aggressiveness will the document on democracy have? That text is the one that marks the line that prevents Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from entering the meetings in Los Angeles, to the regret of López Obrador and Fernández.

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