Between doubts and questions, the IX Summit of the Americas began this Monday in Los Angeles, with dizzying challenges of enormous proportions. With the United States, which is once again the host after 28 years, its leadership questioned and with Latin America turned into the largest social powder keg on the planet, ready to sign another lost decade.
The turn in the first days is for civil society, which precedes the arrival of the presidents, from Wednesday, which will mark the thermometer of the conclave. At the moment, and despite the enthusiasm of activists and dissidents who fight against the three dictatorships and against abuses in other countries that are under the gaze of the international community, the clouds of failure fly over the skies of the Californian city after the pulse maintained by the bloc of countries closest to the three revolutions, which, as had already been anticipated, were not finally invited by Washington.
At the head of the rebel front, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who in his morning meetings with journalists did not make his final position official, but maintained that he will travel to Oaxaca, in the south of the country, in these days. Bolivia accompanies the pulse and, for now, other Central American countries, such as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador threaten not to attend. Precisely transcendental countries when it comes to discussing and agreeing on the migratory issue, the most important for the organizers in the continental conclave.
Yes, the Argentine president will attend, Alberto Fernández, chosen as the “voice” of the revolutions by Nicolás Maduro, who in the last hours struck Washington again. “The US government itself has taken it upon itself to stab the possibility of success of this Summit,” insisted the “people’s president” on whose head a reward of 15 million dollars weighs on US territory for his dedication. In his latest attacks against the “Northern Empire”, Maduro accused the Biden Administration of supporting Colombia, his main ally in the region, to orchestrate a military intervention in his territory.
Other leaders, such as the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, also threatened not to appear in Los Angeles, although finally and after negotiating with the White House he will make an appearance.
“To begin with, the Summit is showing the divisions in the hemisphere. The controversy of which countries are going and which are not, shows that the United States can no longer take the unconditional support of Latin America for granted. It is not clear to me what the great vision is.” that is being proposed”, testifies to EL MUNDO.es the political scientist John Polga-Hecimovich.
Those who have also not been able to travel to Los Angeles are the group of independent Cuban activists and journalists invited by Washington. Among them, Saily González or Amara Peña, who in the end have suffered the same fate as the non-guests.
“In reality, none of the three revolutions should be there. Nor should they protest. It is a Summit of the Americas of democracies and therefore of elected governments that respect the democratic process. Cuba’s was not elected, not even in rigged elections. Regimes that exclude , with doubly exclusive models of integration, towards their own societies and towards other States, cannot protest when they are excluded After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, what must be promoted are models of integration that respect the rules of the game, both international and democratic,” Manuel Cuesta Morúa, coordinator of the Progressive Act and vice president of the Council for the Democratic Transition of Cuba, assured for this newspaper.
The president of this organization, Marthadela Tamayo, is on the list of those “punished” by Havana. “They have prevented us from traveling,” confirmed Tamayo from Havana’s José Martí airport.
“What Biden is playing for is that the recognition of the global crisis of democracy, and the illiberal threats (from China and Russia), go through the reestablishment of the relationship with Latin America, and the signing of commitments to strengthen the democracies of the region, achieving migratory agreements (among other issues, such as the climate). If Biden fails to expose the seriousness of the situation, and the connection between these factors, it will have been another wasted opportunity,” political scientist María Puerta detailed to EL MUNDO.es Riera, professor of American government in Florida.
And it is that if something worries Biden in addition to the labyrinth without exit in the relationship with the three dictatorships, it is the political and media support for Moscow and, above all, the economic expansion of China. The constant message that is sent from Washington encourages not to do business with the Chinese, but does not offer great solutions in return either. Meanwhile, Beijing is pouring money into the region, not just to satisfy its inexhaustible hunger for raw materials.
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