Joe Biden opened the Los Angeles Summit with a business plan for Latin America

In a theater full of guests, Latin American music and mariachi, US President Joe Biden formally opened the Summit of the Americas last night and launched an economic initiative for the region in the meeting with the leaders of the continent that started with so many problems and that it could only end in failure of good intentions.

“At a time when democracies are under attack around the world, let us unite again,” the president said in his message to the summit. “Our region is long and diverse, we may not agree on everything, since we are democracies we have differences, but we must have respect in dialogue,” he said. “The question is what can we achieve by working together, as equals, with mutual respect.”

Biden said he was launching his economic alliance as a way to contribute to a more efficient economy from which all sectors can enjoy its benefits “from below” and “from within”.

“The spillover economy is not working,” he exclaimed. “We have to break that circle,” he insisted amid applause from the leaders present, gathered in the city’s Congress Center and in a nearby theater where Biden delivered his opening message on a stage packed with guests, where the mariachis were. a band of Emilio Estefan and music from all over the continent. In the front row, the leaders and representatives of the region, including Alberto Fernández with his wife Fabiola, who arrived a few minutes earlier, greeted Biden at 16:35 local time (20:35 in Argentina) and then walked a red carpet at the inside the enclosure.

Biden announced a strategy for the region pompously dubbed “Alliance for Economic Prosperity in the Americas” (APEP) that seeks to revitalize the continent with “bottom-up” and “reverse” reconstruction. “, They remarked enigmatically. administration officials.

Among the salient points are the “revitalization” of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) chaired by the interrogated Mauricio Claver Carone; also have more resilient supply chains; improve the environmental quality of the economy; promoting formal employment and “inclusive and sustainable” trade. US officials explained that this is a “historic” agreement that will be “essential to facilitate cooperation” in the region, but beyond words it is rather a compendium of good intentions to begin developing later after the Summit.

Biden seeks to revitalize a continental meeting complicated by the absence of a key actor like Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who opposed the exclusion of the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, considered dictators by the Biden government. In addition, many other leaders have refused their presence, such as the Bolivian Luis Arce, the Guatemalan Alejandro Giammattei, the Honduran Xiomara Castro and the Salvadoran Nayib Bukele.

The absence of the leaders of the so-called “Northern Triangle” complicates the signing of commitments on migration issues, which the US fervently seeks because it does not want other migrants to filter into their territory from those countries via Mexico. Biden tried to focus his message on promoting democratic values ​​and good governance, which has been a central component at the top, and which now take on more value in situations like that of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Another of Biden’s initiatives at this summit is investment in civil society, which they call “an essential component of democracy”: The White House will invest approximately $ 75 million over three years in 300 community-led organizations to empower local civil society organizations. Additionally, USAID will launch the Inter-agency Voices initiative, dedicating $ 42 million to protect, defend and promote civic space in Central America. “These programs will focus on promoting digital democracy and fighting digital authoritarianism; promote freedom of expression and strengthen independent media, “the White House said. The United States joined Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Uruguay as members of the Friends of Freedom OAS Group of Expression and Journalism.