What is the OAS Summit of the Americas?
Relevant facts about the OAS Summit of the Americas
The Summits of the Americas began as random meetings of the heads of state and government of the Western Hemisphere until they became part of the structure of the OAS.
In addition to the official event, parallel forums are held with the participation of businessmen, youth and sectors of civil society. Historic have been the Peoples' Summits of Mar del Plata (2005) as well as those of Panama (2015) and Peru (2018), where the peoples spoke with their plural voices about the true reality of the continent.
SUMMIT 1994
The First Summit was held at the Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. It was attended by 34 leaders of the Western Hemisphere. The Summit was hosted by President Bill Clinton.
The Summit was Clinton's pretext to consolidate a regional bloc and consolidate his natural zone of influence after the end of the Cold War. For the first time, the possibility of creating a free trade zone in the region, the FTAA, was discussed.
Cuba was excluded from the meeting because it is not a member of the OAS. Cuban President Fidel Castro called it a "colossal deception" to the peoples of Latin America, as economic prosperity was promised but never arrived.
1996 SUMMIT
Known as the Summit on Sustainable Development, it is considered an extraordinary summit. It was held at the suggestion of then Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez during the First Summit in Miami.
One of the apparent achievements of the meeting was to include environmental issues among the topics of discussion. Other issues such as technology transfer, division of responsibilities, cooperation and biodiversity were also discussed.
Despite the fact that 26 years have passed since this meeting, Latin America has been one of the regions of the planet most affected by climate change, not to mention that the world's largest ecosystem, the Amazon rainforest, continues to deteriorate year after year.
1998 SUMMIT
The II Summit of the Americas was held in the Chilean capital on April 18-19, 1998. The main issues to be discussed were the preservation and strengthening of democracy, justice and human rights, as well as economic integration, free trade and the eradication of poverty and discrimination.
The economic agenda centered on the neoliberal integration proposed by the FTAA continued to advance. Of the 27 initiatives approved on these issues, few have had any real effect. According to the UN, 2020 was the sixth consecutive year of increased poverty and the highest levels in 27 years.
SUMMIT 2001
The III Summit of the Americas was held April 20-22 in Canada. It was attended by 34 heads of state. The summit was marked by massive protests. More than 15,000 people marched to protest against the globalization of neoliberalism, especially the FTAA, of which U.S. President George Bush was the main promoter. Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso called for fairness in sharing the benefits of free trade and condemned Bush's position.
The Canadian police strongly repressed the marches, but the indignation and impetus of the demonstrators was such that they broke through the security cordon. Fidel Castro, who did not participate due to Cuba's historical exclusion from these events, expressed his support for the demonstrators and described the act as "heroic".
The Summit also served to prepare the Inter-American Democratic Charter, an instrument that far from strengthening democracy in the region has been used to hijack it in the interests of local elites.
SUMMIT 2004
This Summit had an extraordinary character, due to the critical situation Latin America was going through after more than 15 years of applying neoliberal policies. At that time, 44% of the region's population was living in poverty, which speaks volumes about the effectiveness of the three previous summits.
The meeting held in Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico, on January 12-13, 2004, did not go beyond declarations. Fighting poverty and inequality to ensure governance and democracy remained a pipe dream for many Summit participants.
2005 SUMMIT
The IV Summit was held on November 4 and 5 in Argentina. The Summit has gone down in history as the "defeat of the FTAA". Since the Miami Summit in 1994, the U.S. governments had been striving to establish a Free Trade Agreement and the occasion was propitious for negotiations to begin.
The pressure of the progressive forces of the continent led by Hugo Chavez, the host Nestor Kirchner and the presidents of Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay prevented the approval of a declaration whose only purpose was to economically enslave the continent.
At the same time, the III Peoples' Summit was held, in which Chavez pronounced his famous phrase "FTAA, to hell with it". The final march of this Summit was led by the Argentinean soccer player Diego Armando Maradona, Chavez, the future Bolivian President Evo Morales, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez and the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
SUMMIT 2009
The V Summit was held in Trinidad and Tobago between April 17 and 19. It was attended by the 34 heads of state and government of the region, except for Cuba, which was once again excluded.
The main theme of the meeting was tackling the economic crisis, as well as energy security and environmental sustainability. In 2009, the world was going through the worst economic recession since 1929 and the impact on regional economies and poverty levels was becoming worrisome.
The U.S. blockade against Cuba was a topic of debate for the first time at this type of event. In addition, the meeting was transcended by the moment in which Hugo Chávez gave US President Barack Obama the book "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galeano. It was a clear message to Obama that times had changed and that the traditional position of the United States would not be accepted.
SUMMIT 2012
The VI Summit was held on April 14 and 15 in Colombia. The decline of U.S. hegemony over the region was evident. In 2010, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) had emerged as an alternative to the Organization of American States. CELAC became a space for dialogue and consensus without exclusions.
Since the previous edition, the efforts to reincorporate Cuba were intense. ALBA members made a request to materialize this fact, but the Colombian Foreign Ministry refused alleging bureaucratic issues, to cover up its intention to avoid a diplomatic conflict with the United States.
As a result of this refusal, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega decided that their countries would not attend an event marked by the intentional and unjustified rejection of Cuba by dominant countries.
SUMMIT 2015
The VII Summit took place in the Panamanian capital from April 9 to 11. For the first time and as a result of enormous pressure from leftist political forces, Cuba was formally invited to participate in the event, so all the States of the region were represented. It was the first time in more than 50 years that a Cuban and a U.S. president had an official meeting.
After discussions and negotiations and more than a year of work, no final declaration was reached. As in Cartagena de Indias, the U.S. and Canadian delegations broke the consensus of the Final Declaration. The reasons are more than clear: the regional context was dominated by the left, which assumed positions incompatible with the interests of developed countries such as the United States and Canada.
The meeting is also remembered for the large number of political organizations and social movements that re-edited the massive People's Summit of Mar del Plata (2005). The declaration emanating from this parallel event strongly condemned the blockade of Cuba and the interference of the U.S. in the region. Likewise, the participants denounced the invitation of terrorist and anti-Cuban elements by the OAS to supplant Cuban civil society.
LIMA 2018
Despite the fact that the main theme of the VIII Summit was the fight against corruption, the event was heavily influenced by the regional right's siege against Venezuela and the exclusion of the country. Instead, members of the opposition were invited.
Once again, civil society forums were held in parallel, where there was an overwhelming rejection of the exclusion of Venezuela and the destabilizing policy of the United States towards the South American country and other progressive governments in the region.
In the midst of a re-emergence of right-wing forces in the continent, the intention was to condemn Venezuela but the opposition of several governments prevented the adoption of a final declaration by way of condemnation.
SUMMIT 2022
The IX Summit will be held between June 8 and 10. The Biden administration, completely ignoring the reality of the region, has decided to exclude Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which has generated a generalized rejection of the event.
More than half of the heads of state and government have declined the invitations in protest against Washington's imposition and unconstructive attitude. Likewise, it has been reported that the United States has refused to process the visas of a group of 23 Cubans who were to participate in the People's Summit. However, they have processed the visas of some Cuban spokespersons of the extremist lobby in Florida.
Some 200 U.S. civil society organizations have confirmed their participation in the People's Summit.