A Blocked Summit

Latin America unsuccessfully attempts to have Obama accept Cuba in the next meetings

The Summit of the Americas, held in Cartagena, Colombia, wanted to be the mother of all summits. For it has assumed a trifecta: a social forum, the largest meeting of entrepreneurs in the history of Latin America and a gathering of thirty of the heads of state todebate the future in the amazing setting of the capital of the Colombian Caribbean.

But no one ignored that the bulk of the intentions of a large majority of the Latin American countries were unacceptable for Washington. President Obama could neither give his consent to the attendance of the dictatorial Cuba at the next summits nor agree to discuss the decriminalization of drugs, particularly before the presidential elections in November. In the end, the U.S. also didn’t allow itself to be swayed to a favorable position in the Argentinean claim on the Falkland Islands. For these reasons, and especially because of the contentious Cuban press release the night before, tensions were high. But these meetings are also expected to serve as a sounding board that celebrates statements or agreements that are already adopted. And this is what happened in Cartagena.

The agreement has been virtually unanimous with regards to Latin America about the necessity that Cuba attend as a member with the full right at the next summit, a consensus that encountered a most eloquent defender, ally of the United States, President Juan Manuel Santos of Columbia. On the war on drugs, opinions differed greatly. No one talks about decriminalizing tomorrow in any way, but instead they recognize that the political fight against drugs — so closely linked to the rampant civilian insecurity that is the true disaster of those countries — has failed, and they must rethink the problem.

Given this extensive consensus, Obama was protecting himself with the advice to cooperate for the prosperity of all, in moments when the Latin-American micro-economic figures are the best in history. And, while he was at it, an indirect confirmation: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would not have missed the summit if he were not actually sick. The incapacity to adopt a common position about this set of problems devalues a summit that is neither mother nor child; but this does not deny that Latin America had spoken with a freedom and a conviction of unusual strength.