“Our friend Jorge Heine has the best realist quote below ….”
“It all looks very thin,” Jorge Heine, a former Chilean ambassador to China, told me. The Biden administration is not promising new free trade deals or greater market access to countries in the region that don’t have these arrangements already in place, nor has it proved yet capable of raising significant new resources for investment. While Biden managed to swiftly push $40 billion in additional funding to Ukraine through Congress, its long-sought $4 billion to reckon with the social crises in Central America is mired on Capitol Hill.
This lack of capacity stands in marked contrast to China. Total Chinese trade to Latin America and the Caribbean went from a paltry $18 billion in 2002 to nearly $449 billion in 2021. China is now South America’s largest trade partner. It has used financial incentives to flip a number of Caribbean countries away from their recognition of Taiwan. It has become a major provider of armaments to South American militaries and has partnered with the space programs of a half dozen countries on the continent. Chinese state companies and businesses are hoovering up natural resources, as well as engaging in major infrastructure and construction projects across the region, from stadiums and railways to ports and dams.
“When U.S. authorities visit Latin America, they often talk about China and why Latin American countries should not deal with China,” Heine said. “When Chinese authorities visit, all the talk is about bridges and tunnels and highways and railways and trade.” One vision, he added, is clearly more “attractive” than the other.
Heine argued that there were high expectations for Biden’s tenure. As vice president in the Obama administration, Biden made numerous trips to Latin America. His experience, it was hoped, would move the needle beyond the Trump years, when Latin America was largely reduced to a target of anti-immigrant bashing and ideological axe-grinding against left-leaning regimes.
But the Biden administration has pursued what Heine dubbed as a “Trump-lite” approach, where the “rhetoric has been toned down, but the policies have continued very much along the same lines.” The result, Heine concluded, is a “generalized disappointment” in a region whose economies have been badly hit by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, China’s approach to Latin America is far less ideological than the one on show in the United States. Beijing can coordinate on coronavirus vaccines with Cuba while also courting Ecuador’s newish right-wing government with the prospect of a major trade deal.
“Most governments obviously prefer the U.S. model,” Heine told me, pointing to democratic values that many in the region also cherish. “But the real challenge is development. … When China comes and offers trade and financing, that is welcome. That is the main priority. Latin Americans are not in the business of international great power competition.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/06/10/biden-summit-of-americas-south-dud/
7th Women’s Hemispheric Network Forum
Miami | AS/COA – June 17, 2022
https://www.as-coa.org/events/7th-womens-hemispheric-network-forum-miami
Mayors Summit: Shared Challenges, Shared Solutions – The Dialogue
The Summit of the Americas 2022 Is More Zombie Regionalism
Messy Summit of the Americas highlights contrast in US, China hosting styles | South China Morning Post
- “It’s fricking amateur hour,” Nicholas Cull, professor of public diplomacy at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, said of overall US messaging around the summit. “It doesn’t seem like they prepared with image in mind. Chinese summits are a very different animal.”
Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection | The White House
Fixing the Summit of the Americas Disaster – 19FortyFive
Summit Fact Sheet: The Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection U.S. Government and Foreign Partner Deliverables | The White House
McCaul on the Administration’s Failure to Respond to the Migration Crisis at the Summit of the Americas – Committee on Foreign Affairs
Biden unveils migration plan, capping Americas summit roiled by division | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/summit-americas-us-rolls-out-measures-help-migrants-2022-06-10/
Amid Boycotts of Los Angeles’ Summit of the Americas, Leaders Discuss Health and Migration
U.S., Latin American Countries to Pledge to Take In More Migrants – WSJ
Four CARICOM leaders sign LA Declaration on Migration and Protection | Loop Caribbean News
El Salvador signs the Los Angeles Declaration to curb illegal migration – California18
Abinader bloquea la trampa haitiana – El país no firmó la declaración de la Cumbre sobre el acuerdo migratorio | Listín Diario
Guatemala: Gobierno aprobó cinco proyectos durante la IX Cumbre de las Américas, pero dice que no implica compromiso alguno
Secretary Antony J. Blinken At a Working Lunch with the Joint Summit Working Group – United States Department of State
Summit of the Americas Latest News: Biden Hosts Final Day in LA – Bloomberg
Summit Latest: Blinken Defends US Exclusion of Autocracies
Inter-American Foundation Brings Grassroots Voices to the Summit of the Americas – Digital Journal
Biden rebuked over guest list at Americas summit he is hosting | Reuters
Biden Faces Skepticism at Summit of the Americas – The New York Times
Biden, at Americas summit, works to hold together a divided region – The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/09/biden-americas-summit-speech/
Differences dominate Summit of the Americas – The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/10/differences-dominate-summit-americas/
Summit of the Americas Shows Declining U.S. Influence | Time
https://time.com/6186494/americas-summit-biden-china/
A Region Divided: What Did the Summit of the Americas Accomplish? | Council of Councils
Biden Condemned Inside and Outside ‘Summit of Exclusion’
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/10/biden-condemned-inside-and-outside-summit-exclusion
Cumbre de las Americas: divisiones y tensiones | El Financiero
Shifter: “A la Administración Biden le falta compartir la visión sobre América Latina” – The Dialogue
President Biden meets with Caribbean leaders during summit | Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article262390662.html
Joint Readout of President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris’ Meeting with Leaders of The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic | The White House
FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Launches the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030) | The White House
US launches initiative to help Caricom fight climate crisis, invest in clean energy – Jamaica Observer
US throws support behind Caribbean’s energy security, climate crisis efforts – Guyana Times
Time for action to achieve sustainable, resilient, equitable future for hemisphere – CARICOM Chairman – CARICOM Today
Caricom leader slams ‘unforgivable’ decision by US to exclude Cuba, Venezuela from Summit – Jamaica Observer
CARICOM turns up heat on frosty US/ Cuba relations – News Room Guyana
PM Browne calls out US for exclusion of Cuba from Americas Summit | Loop Caribbean News
https://caribbean.loopnews.com/content/pm-browne-calls-out-us-exclusion-cuba-americas-summit
PM Rowley At 9th Summit of the Americas: Don’t Exclude Cuba And Haiti
Rowley champions democracy, bats for Cuba, Venezuela at Summit of the Americas
Rowley at Summit of the Americas: Stop the sanctions – Trinidad Express
https://trinidadexpress-tto.newsmemory.com/?publink=064ac98df_13484e7
Browne: Americas summit productive for Trinidad and Tobago
Summit expectations not met – Trinidad Guardian
https://guardian.co.tt/article/summit-expectations-not-met-6.2.1505110.55db097d36
Summit of Americas: Region has potential to be fully energy secure – Pres Ali tells colleagues – Guyana Times
Guyana to push food security agenda, new trade systems at IX Summit of Americas – Pres Ali – Guyana Times
Rapid action needed on food security | Business | Jamaica Gleaner
Collective action needed to fix ‘systemic problems’ – President Ali tells Summit of the Americas
Guyana, T&T, Suriname, Barbados can meet the region’s energy demands | Loop Cayman Islands
https://cayman.loopnews.com/content/guyana-tt-suriname-barbados-can-meet-regions-energy-demands-0
Summit of Americas: Region has potential to be fully energy secure – Pres Ali tells colleagues – Guyana Times
Jamaica’s Marks calls for concessional financing for middle-income countries | News | Jamaica Gleaner
U.S. focuses on U.N. presence in Haiti as it seeks to help troubled country
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article262402162.html
La ADD+USA Business Council, se presentá oficialmente dentro del marco de la IV Cumbre de CEO de las Américas
Ecuador se une a Panamá, Costa Rica y RD en la Alianza para el Desarrollo en Democracia | Listín Diario
Mexico joins the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity to promote inclusive growth in the region | Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores | Gobierno | gob.mx
Mexico Calls Americas Summit ‘Very Positive’ Despite Presidential Boycott
México condena la exclusión de Venezuela, Nicaragua y Cuba de la Cumbre de las Américas
Chile Condemns the Exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela | News | teleSUR English
Biden, Bolsonaro hold 1st meeting amid election worries | AP News
Argentina leader to Biden: ‘Being a host does not grant the ability to impose a right of admission’
Not the Summit we would have wanted, Argentine President tells LA conference — MercoPress
Maduro thanks Fernández for his speech in Los Angeles — MercoPress
https://en.mercopress.com/2022/06/10/maduro-thanks-fernandez-for-his-speech-in-los-angeles
SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS EXCLUSIVE: A Conversation with Guatemala’s President, Dr. Alejandro Giammattei by The Global Liberty Alliance Podcast
Activists condemn dictatorships in Summit of the Americas | Tri-City Herald
https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/politics-government/article262339602.html
Why did Cuba insist on attending the Summit of the Americas?
Tiempo de repensar la Cumbre de las Américas
Cumbre de las Américas: Biden prometió fondos para la región y reveló un plan de trabajo con la Argentina – El Cronista
Antony Blinken: “Cuba, Venezuela y Nicaragua estuvieron en esta cumbre con personas más representativas que sus regímenes” – Infobae
EEUU asistiría a una Cumbre de las Américas con Cuba, Venezuela y Nicaragua, pero nunca en su territorio | DIARIO DE CUBA
https://diariodecuba.com/internacional/1655047562_40164.html
Cumbre de las Américas: CEOs con la peso de innovar y transformarse para crecer
