Safeguarding Democracy in the Americas: How to Strengthen the Inter-American Democratic Charter
UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
https://www.international.ucla.edu/burkle/event/15594
Ninth Summit of The Americas Hearing – May 26, 2022
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
https://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/ninth-summit-of-the-americas052622
US-Caribbean Relations in Biden Administration Year One
FIU Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center
April 28, 2022 – webinar + paper by Ambassador Sir Ronald Sanders
https://lacc.fiu.edu/events/2022/us-caribbean-relations-in-biden-administration-year-one/
US-Caribbean Relations in Biden Administration Year 1 – Caribbean Policy Consortium
Indo-Pacific Framework could work in Latin America, too | Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article261789402.html
The Biden Administration Placates Latin American Foes While Pummeling American Friends | The Heritage Foundation
Beyond the Summit of the Americas: Resetting U.S. Policy in Latin America | United States Institute of Peace
https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/05/beyond-summit-americas-resetting-us-policy-latin-america
Biden administration races to salvage Summit of Americas in Los Angeles – Los Angeles Times
Biden’s attempt to save US influence in Latin America collides with mistrust | USA | EL PAÍS English Edition
Will Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela attend Summit of Americas? Mexico wants a say – CNN
It’s the United States’ party. But Mexico wants a say on the guest list
Joe Biden Has Botched the Summit of the Americas
https://jacobinmag.com/2022/05/ninth-summit-of-the-americas-attendance-amlo-biden-cuba-venezuela
Biden risks troubled Americas summit in Los Angeles | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/biden-asia-mexico-cuba-caribbean-862eee3f6eddb21b017234fcf4a30a6d
Who’s Coming to the Summit of the Americas? | AS/COA
https://www.as-coa.org/articles/whos-coming-summit-americas
Many nations say they won’t go to the Summit of the Americas unless all are invited : NPR
Jorge Castañeda on AMLO and the resilience of dictatorships – Confidencial
U.S. adviser tries to talk Mexican president out of skipping Summit of the Americas | NPR & Houston Public Media
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says that he will not attend the Summit of the Americas
López Obrador’s flirtation with Russia risks worsening US-Mexican relations
US now turns to Cuba and Venezuela, possibly to salvage LA Summit — MercoPress
US official: Biden mulls Cuba invitation for Americas summit – ABC News
Biden officials consider inviting Cuban representative to Americas summit -source | Reuters
U.S. accuses Cuba of using Americas summit controversy as propaganda ploy | Reuters
Do Biden policy moves on Cuba, Venezuela doom Democrats’ chances in Florida? – Sun Sentinel
Cuban president says he won’t attend Summit of the Americas | The Hill
Brazil’s Bolsonaro to attend Americas Summit after doubts – The Washington Post
Brazil’s Bolsonaro Plans to Attend Los Angeles Summit
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has decided to attend the Summit of the Americas being hosted by the United States in Los Angeles next month, and he plans to meet separately with U.S. President Joe Biden, the Associated Press reported, citing three unnamed cabinet ministers in the South American country. A bilateral meeting in Los Angeles would be a first for the U.S. and Brazilian leaders. Biden, a centrist, and Bolsonaro, a far-right former military captain often compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump, have been at odds over issues such as protection of the Amazon rainforest. Who will and won’t attend the summit, whether for lack of invitation or refusal to accept, has been a key concern for U.S. officials for years as the date of the meeting has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The most notable possible no-show is now Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has threatened to boycott if Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are not included, although he has indicated he would send Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard in his stead. The United States has made some gestures in recent weeks to try to appease López Obrador, such as indicating that lower-level diplomats could attend instead of heads of state from those three countries, which the United States consider to be undemocratic. In an anticipated move, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Wednesday on Twitter that “under no circumstances” will he attend the Summit, The Hill reported. Meanwhile, 13 of the 14 member nations of the Caribbean’s Caricom group are planning to join the event, according to a senior Caribbean nation official and a Washington-based Caribbean advisor who have been involved in talks about the issue, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Florida Republican Marco Rubio wants Haiti discussion during Summit of the Americas | Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article261838915.html
Guatemala President Could Still Attend Americas Summit, Minister Says | World News | US News
Biden is empowering the Maduro regime and enabling other countries to do the same
Biden’s concessions to Maduro place oil over people | McClatchy Washington Bureau
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/latin-america/article261641062.html
Biden should hold Maduro’s feet to the fire on free elections | Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article261615087.html
Washington invites Dominican leader to Summit
St Vincent: PM urges CARICOM not to attend Summit of the Americas | Loop Caribbean News
https://caribbean.loopnews.com/content/st-vincent-pm-urges-caricom-not-attend-summit-americas
Suriname not in favor of boycotting Summit of the Americas – CNW Network
Guyana will attend Summit of the Americas to pursue its interests; will continue to lobby for Cuba – Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana
Guyana, other CARICOM states to attend Summit of the Americas as concerns being addressed – News Room Guyana
Caricom foreign ministers call for all-inclusive Summit of the Americas – Jamaica Observer
Most Caribbean nations planning to attend Americas Summit: sources | Reuters
Rubio wants Haiti, migration focus at Summit of the Americas | Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article261823405.html
TRANSCRIPT: Ranking Member Rubio Opening Remarks on 2022 Summit of the Americas – Press Releases – U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio
https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?id=ECF6498E-4BA8-4C27-BB9B-755BC9D11362
Ken Salazar espera que AMLO asista a la Cumbre de las Américas: ‘la esperanza es que vaya’ – El Financiero
Cumbre de las Américas: el debate sobre la democracia y los derechos humanos de cara a la cita continental – Infobae
Presidente del BID: ‘La seguridad alimentaria es lo que más nos preocupa, es la prioridad y es el peligro más grande que existe’ | El Financiero
Buddies getting together not a Summit, LatAm leaders agree — MercoPress
Argentina organiza una reunión de la Celac en Los Angeles, en paralelo a la Cumbre de las Américas – Infobae
Luis Arce se alinea a la ALBA y arremete contra EEUU
https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/luis-arce-se-alinea-a-la-alba-y-arremete-contra-eeuu-YY2670133
Daniel Ortega: ″No nos interesa″ ir a la Cumbre de las Américas | Las noticias y análisis más importantes en América Latina
DW | 19.05.2022
https://www.dw.com/es/daniel-ortega-no-nos-interesa-ir-a-la-cumbre-de-las-am%C3%A9ricas/a-61845566
Opositores de Nicaragua, Venezuela y Cuba cierran filas para que no los inviten a Cumbre de las Américas
- Desde reunión CARICOM en Guyana nos dicen que 13 de los Primeros Ministros/Presidentes asistirán a la Cumbre de las Americas. Solo pendiente sin confirmar Ralph Gonsalves de San Vicente…
La Cumbre y sus convidados de piedra – Interamerican Institute for Democracy
https://intdemocratic.org/la-cumbre-y-sus-convidados-de-piedra/?lang=es
Chile pide una Cumbre de las Américas ‘sin exclusiones’
https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2022/05/19/latin-americas-divisions-over-defending-democracy
Latin America’s divisions over defending democracy
A summit of distant neighbours
May 19th 2022
When the United States hosted the first Summit of the Americas, in Miami in 1994, the occasion had a ring of celebrity. Democracy had spread across Latin America and with it economic liberalisation. At the request of the Latin Americans, the 33 countries present—all except Communist Cuba—agreed to work on a Free Trade Area of the Americas (ftaa). As Joe Biden prepares to host the ninth summit in Los Angeles next month, the picture looks very different. This time the get-together seems certain to highlight Latin America’s internal disagreements and its partial retreat from democracy and free trade.
To start with, it is not clear who will be there. Mr Biden’s team say that they intend to invite only countries with democratically elected leaders, which excludes the leftist dictatorships in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Cuba, which was invited to the past two summits, held in Panama and Lima, is campaigning against its exclusion. In response, Bolivia and Honduras have said they will not attend. So has Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, though he added that his foreign minister would go. For different reasons, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s right-wing leader, seems unlikely to attend. A fan of Donald Trump, he has not spoken to Mr Biden. Others, such as Argentina and Chile, say they want all countries to be present but that they will nevertheless turn up.
Since Brazil and Mexico are the second- and third-most-populous countries in the Americas, the absences of Mr Bolsonaro and Mr López Obrador would hurt. The latter especially, since Mr Biden’s team wants to forge a deal to manage migration at the summit. The post-covid surge in migrants at Mexico’s border with the United States is a nightmare for the White House. But migration is a headache for many Latin American countries, too: some 6m Venezuelans have left home, as have more than 100,000 Cubans in recent months. That is chiefly a result of their own governments’ economic mismanagement, but some Latin Americans blame American sanctions.
American diplomats are quietly countering the prospective boycotts. The English-speaking Caribbean, which has friendly ties to both Cuba and Venezuela, seems likely to reverse a previous decision to stay away. And Mr López Obrador, who received American envoys this week, may also change his mind. On May 16th the Biden administration announced that it would ease some of Mr Trump’s restrictions on remittances, travel and flights to Cuba. In March American officials held talks in Caracas with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s ruler, in which they offered to soften sanctions if he agreed to a return to democracy. To ease talks between the government and the opposition, this week the administration allowed Chevron, an American oil firm, to renegotiate its operating licence in Venezuela.
In Los Angeles Mr Biden will say that “the region’s democratic self-determination is something we see as fundamental…regardless of countries’ ideological preferences,” according to an administration official. Yet some leftist governments in the region don’t see democracy as a dividing line. “We should focus on economic development and try to reach a new political understanding with the United States,” says a Mexican official.
In 2001, on the day of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, foreign ministers from the Americas signed a charter pledging to defend democracy where it is under attack. Yet this kind of evangelising for democracy is a recent development. An older tradition is re-emerging, which invokes non-intervention in domestic affairs.
That is driven, in part, by what some see as the United States’ selective support for democracy. Its diminishing influence in Latin America, a function of China’s growing presence and its own political dysfunction, does not help. A dozen ambassadorial posts in the region are vacant, with some nominees blocked by Senate Republicans. Moreover Mr Trump’s grandstanding against Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela failed to weaken, let alone dislodge, their regimes. There are pragmatic reasons to think that talking works better than ostracism.
Staying away from the summit would not just fall into the same trap, and reveal the Latin American left’s double standards on democracy. It would also send the message that an economically stagnant region, which scotched the idea of the ftaa years ago, has nothing to discuss with what is still the world’s biggest market. That would be a declaration of parochialism and failure.
