US President Joe Biden, during the opening ceremony of the 9th Summit of the Americas, in Los Angeles, Wednesday June 8, 2022.
From the opening of the 9e Summit of the Americas Wednesday, June 8, the President of the United States Joe Biden strongly insisted on the need for American leaders to cooperate to ensure the economic prosperity of the continent and to defend democracy. But his speech was not necessarily well received. And for good reason. At this meeting of the American countries, there were some absentees. Some chose not to be there, to protest against the exclusion of others. This Summit of the Americas indeed began clouded by diplomatic disputes.
The American president considered that democracy was “an essential element for the future of the Americas”, during the opening ceremony in Los Angeles. “Our region is large and diverse. We don’t always agree on everything. But because we are democracies, we approach our differences with mutual respect and dialogue,” he said.
Did the United States make a “strategic error”?
But the regional summit is marked by the absence of certain heads of state, notably from Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia or Honduras. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in particular criticizes the White House for having excluded Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. He decided not to attend the summit.