From June 6-10, Los Angeles will host the Summit of the Americas. Joe Biden will host a summit where Latin America’s interest in participation is low and there is no strong bid agenda on the opportunities that can be created between the countries of the region and the USA.

Since the end of the Cold War, the American agenda in the region has been fraught with problems. For both US and Latin American leaders, the dialogue focuses on illegal immigration, money laundering, drug trafficking, corruption and flaws in the democratic process. Naturally, these are all important and necessary issues, but understandably, countless regional governments are tired of being reprimanded for not making tangible progress in tackling these problems.

Until 2008, there were not many options for Latin American countries to escape these themes in dialogue with the United States. After all, the United States was the main trading partner for the vast majority. Since 2008, when we had the Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns crisis, China has seen an opportunity that it hasn’t given up since then.

Nearly $200 billion has been invested or funded in the region, while the United States has hardly changed the narrative that revolves around problems rather than opportunities.

In December 2021, China hosted a virtual Summit with foreign ministers in the region and was largely successful in attending.

avoid the fiasco

For this year’s Los Angeles Summit, Mexico tops the list of major countries that don’t want to attend. Mexican President Andrés Manoel López Obrador warned the US government that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua would not be interested in participating if not invited.

Biden has already made it clear that the invitation will not be made to these countries. Besides Bolivia, many Caribbean countries followed the same lines as Mexico and did not show much interest. Brazil and Argentina have so far neither confirmed nor denied their participation.

An empty dome is worse than no dome. Obviously, the US government will not be able to cancel at this point in the championship and it will be a shocking defeat in the eyes of the region. What’s left to do? Suggesting an agenda of opportunities and cooperation for economic empowerment would already be invaluable and could get many countries to consider their involvement.

Biden must understand that China brings a narrative of opportunity, however dubious it may be in the medium and long term. The only country in the world that can resist the consensual dependency created by China is the USA.

There is no other way out than to put your hand in your pocket for this. There’s also always a welcome alternative to changing parent themes. Of course, we always talk about illegal immigration, drug trafficking, corruption, etc. We should discuss, but we should also have space to discuss what the interests of Latin American countries are and how they can once again benefit from a relationship with the United States.