The Democrat wants to maintain relations with Latin America and stand for a different policy than his predecessor Donald Trump.
(Photo: dpa)
Mexico City The agenda for the summit has been set for weeks: the heads of state and government of the American continent want to discuss climate change, clean energy, health, democracy, digitization and above all migration at their ninth meeting in Los Angeles from June 6th to 10th. However, what is not available a few days before the start is the list of participants. Targeted non-invitation, threats and boycotts could turn the meeting into a farce and a PR fiasco for US President Joe Biden.
The core question is whether the three left-wing nationalist and socialist states of Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba are allowed to participate or not. The White House has made it more or less clear that leaders Daniel Ortega, Nicolás Maduro and Miguel Díaz-Canel are unwelcome for “contempt for democracy”.
This, in turn, unexpectedly drew Mexico in particular onto the scene. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is not otherwise considered a summit enthusiast, has now made himself the defender of those who have been invited. He wants to stay away from the summit, which begins with preliminary talks on Monday, in protest if the US sticks to its decision.
Bolivia and Argentina initially joined the boycott, with Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández relenting at the end of the week and agreeing to participate. In addition, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei is staying away from the meeting for bilateral reasons.
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He is angry because Washington put Attorney General María Consuelo Porras on a sanctions list for allegations of corruption. After all, Brazil’s head of state Jair Bolsonaro has announced his coming after much hesitation.
The summit was supposed to emphasize Washington’s new commitment to Latin America and deliberately mark the difference from Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump. Trump was the first US President to stay away from a summit of American states, which brings together leaders from Canada to Chile about every three years.
The US has long viewed Latin America as its “backyard”
Bill Clinton hosted the first America Summit in Miami in 1994, to which all countries except Cuba were invited. After Havana was excluded from the first six meetings, it was invited to the last two in Panama and Peru.
It is therefore understandable that the renewed exclusion of the island and other states in Latin America provokes resistance. In addition, it shows the increased self-confidence of some states, especially in relation to Washington, which for decades regarded Latin America as its “backyard” and treated it as such.
“Latin American governments want to show Washington that it’s no longer at the head of the table and that this is a summit of equals,” said Brian Winter, editor of Americas Quarterly, a magazine that covers US politics in the hemisphere deals. “Uncle Sam should no longer be able to unilaterally decide who is on the guest list.”
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But at a peak of discord, it would be difficult to constructively address the pressing challenges facing the continent. On the one hand, there is the extensive economic recession caused by the pandemic, the galloping inflation, but also the ongoing issues of environmental destruction, the dismantling of democratic institutions and the simultaneous rise of right-wing populists, as well as the question of how to deal with the refugee crises, especially in Central America, Mexico and the USA .
Here in particular, without the participation of the presidents of Mexico and Guatemala, any regional agreement on the subject of migration in Los Angeles would remain smoke and mirrors, because both states together with Honduras make up the bulk of the migrants. In addition, an agreement on the issue is also important for Biden domestically before the midterm elections in November.
After all, the radical right-wing Brazilian head of state Jair Bolsonaro is now taking part in the summit meeting, which had left his coming open for a long time. He was Trump’s closest ally in Latin America, and since Biden has been in power, diplomatic relations have been on the cold side. Because the USA criticizes the Brazilian environmental policy, in particular the deforestation of the Amazon sharply.
Now, however, bilateral talks are planned between the two heads of state in Los Angeles. The absence of Bolsonaro would have nullified any meaningful progress on two other key foreign policy goals of the Biden administration: climate change and the defense of democracy.
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