Summit of the Americas: Two More “Mores” and a Bad Joke
I was back at my favorite bar. I’d been reviewing the news of the week and trying to make sense out of a world that seemed to have gone totally mad: more mass shootings in the US, more mass graves in Ukraine, more coronavirus cases, more inflation, more profits for oil companies, more starvation in Africa and elsewhere, more CO2 in the atmosphere, more deforestation in the Amazon, more lies from elected officials . . . on and on, more and more “mores.” But right now, I was focused on an article in The New York Times about the Summit of the Americas held this year in Los Angeles.
Overwhelmed by it all, I looked away from the paper and glanced at the mirror across the bar. The face that stared back at me raised his beer mug. It was my old friend— Juan.
“Ah hah,” he said. “I see you’re reading that article.” He shook his head sadly. “Summit of the Americas – what a joke.”
“Joke?”
He laughed at me – as though the humor was already clear. “Yes. The summit is meant to be a meeting of leaders from each of the countries of the Americas. Question: What sort of summit excludes the countries with the biggest issues to be addressed? Answer: a bad one.”
“You mean, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela?”
“Well, yeah. They were excluded. But what really flabbergasts me is that paragraph right there.”
I looked down at the paper.
Mr. Biden had hoped to assemble the leaders of the hemisphere as a show of American strength and unity of purpose. Instead, his refusal to invite several authoritarian leaders prompted the leaders of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia and El Salvador to refuse to attend. (1)
“The major issue the US wanted to address,” Juan continued, “was the migration problem. And now they brag about a document they hammered out called the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.” He rolled his eyes. “All it really does is commit several countries, including the US, to accept a maximum number of immigrants every year.”
I was puzzled. “What’s wrong with that?”
The image looking back at me frowned. “It doesn’t do anything about the real problem. It’s a tiny bandaid on a gigantic wound. Or a bad joke.”
Of course, I knew he was right. I pulled out my cell phone and looked at the latest draft of my upcoming book. I’d written:
International “free” trade agreements include the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the United States‐Mexico‐Canada Agreement (USMCA). They give US companies major advantages because they allow the companies to be subsidized by US taxpayers but prohibit Canada, Mexico, and Central American countries from imposing tariffs and limitations on US imports, thus making it impossible for many local farmers and businesses in those countries to survive.
US corporations can sell US-grown corn, rice, cotton, and other products in these countries for less than it costs either them or local farmers to grow them. In addition to ruining the farmers, the negative spin-offs to the millions of people who own or work for small businesses that process, transport, market, and consume these goods impact the entire hemisphere. The economic devastation leads to drug cartels, gang wars, corruption, crimes, and political turmoil. People who fear for their lives and can no longer support their families feel they have no options but to migrate. (2)
“Right.” As though he could read my mind, Juan agreed. “The only solution to the immigration problem is to end the insanity of policies that favor multinational corporations driven by the goal of maximizing short-term profits. How do you address immigration when the leaders of the countries with the most migrants don’t attend the summit?
“Including Mexico,” I added. “With the largest economy of the Spanish-speaking nations and our closest neighbor.”
“Exactly. And why didn’t they attend? Because the US refused to invite Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. And why no invitation to those guys? Because Washington claimed it did not want to include ‘non-democratic governments.’”
The mirror reflected his disdain. “The US for years has been the greatest ally of the brutal, sexist, racist dictatorship of Saudi Arabia and a long-time supporter of Egypt and many other authoritarian governments, and yet had the balls to give this extremely lame excuse for taking a unilateral action that turned the entire summit into. . .” There was a long pause. “I still can’t think of any other word – a bad joke of one.”
I returned to the Times article. It seemed that even the leaders who did attend the summit pretty much agreed. They were more diplomatic than to invoke the word “joke,” but the sentiment was there.
Johnny Briceño, the prime minister of Belize, publicly chastised Mr. Biden in a remarkable speech just moments after the president had left the lectern. Mr. Briceño said it was “inexcusable” that the United States had blocked Cuba and Venezuela from attending the summit, a decision that sparked the boycott by four countries.
“At this most critical juncture, when the future of our hemisphere is at stake, we stand divided,” he said. “And that is why the Summit of the Americas should have been inclusive.”
President Alberto Fernández of Argentina also lashed out at the United States and called for a change in the rules that allowed Mr. Biden, as the host of the summit, to decide who was invited to the gathering.
“We definitely would have wished for a different Summit of the Americas,” he said. “The silence of those who are absent is calling to us.” (1)
“As you well know,” Juan added, “Latin America doesn’t see China as a joke. Remember that Time magazine article you recently quoted in your new book?”
I scrolled through my phone:
Time reported in February 2021:
As countries in the region (South America) grapple with a cascade of challenges to their developing economies, they increasingly look not to the North but to the East. Today, China is South America’s top trading partner. In 2019, Chinese companies invested $12.8 billion in Latin America, up 16.5% from 2018, concentrating on regional infrastructure such as ports, roads, dams and railways. Chinese purchases of minerals and agricultural commodities helped South America stave off the worst privations of the 2008 financial crisis. (3)
I recalled a 2019 discussion I had with a group of university students in Cartagena Colombia as we watched the sun set over the Caribbean from a bar atop the massive wall that surrounds the colonial city.
“Under Trump,” one of them said, “the US has become a joke. We’ve learned that we can’t trust your country to honor its agreements. That’s one of the reasons so many Latin countries are turning to China.”
I looked at the mirror and let out a sigh. Two more “mores” to add to the list: the Summit of the Americas had turned out to be one more US mistake; one more opportunity for China.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/us/politics/biden-americas-summit.html
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition: China's EHM Strategy; Ways to Stop the Global Takeover, By John Perkins, Berrett-Koehler (Feb 2023)