IRIA News

The Ninth Summit of Americas took place in Los Angeles from June 6 to June 10, 2022, under the theme of “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future”.

Several leaders from all North, South, and Central America joined the summit. However, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were barred from joining the summit as the United States does not recognize their leaders to be “democratically elected”.

Several participants of the summit opposed the U.S.’s decision of not inviting representatives from three countries. President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador skipped the event and sent his foreign minister in order to record his protest against not inviting the three countries, while leaders of Argentina and Belize took the podium to rebuke President Joe Biden over the guest list.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley also made remarks about the absence of three member states by stating, “It’s wrong that Cuba and Venezuela [and] Nicaragua are not here, we need to speak to those with whom we disagree”.

Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection

President Biden rolled out his new immigration policy under the ‘Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection’, which aims to “mobilize the entire region around bold actions that will transform our approach to managing migration”, he stated.

President Biden also pledged hundreds of millions of aid for Venezuelan Migrants across the Western Hemisphere. He also initiated programs where families of Cubans and Haitian migrants can visit the U.S. on temporary visas to meet and support their family members.

“We’re transforming our approach to manage migration in the Americas,” President Biden said.

U.S. President Biden added that the Los Angeles Declaration is built around four core pillars. “First, stability and assistance to making sure the communities that are welcoming refugees can afford to care for them, to educate them in their education, medical care, shelter, and job opportunities. Second, increasing pathways for legal migration throughout the region as well as protections for refugees. Third, working together to implement more humane and coordinated border management systems. And finally, making sure that all stakeholders are working together to respond to emergencies.” Biden also urged other participants of the summit to join the Los Angeles Declaration.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM)’s meeting with President Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also met with the leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the leader of the Dominican Republic on the sidelines of the summit. The leaders discussed the need to strengthen security cooperation and engagement, including countering small arms trafficking.

The United States and Caribbean countries reaffirmed their longstanding cooperation on core Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) priorities and broader engagement complementary to CBSI, such as combatting trafficking in persons, cybersecurity, and cybercrime.

The U.S. and CARICOM member states vowed to support “the development of national action plans to counter firearms trafficking, as part of the firearms priority actions and roadmap implementation process.”

“These national action plans can help the United States more effectively tailor our support to CARICOM member countries, to address especially the supply and flow of illegal handguns and assault weapons trafficking throughout the region,” the White House statement read.

The United States and CARICOM concur on the utility of acceding to the Treaty of San José concerning illicit maritime and air narcotics trafficking. This treaty provides states with a valuable legal mechanism that facilitates international cooperation to disrupt illicit maritime trafficking and transnational criminal organizations in the Caribbean.

The joint statement released by the White House after the meeting stated that U.S. and CARICOM would “work in partnership with civil society and the private sector to ensure that democracy delivers for all our people and to build safe, inclusive, prosperous, equitable, and climate-resilient societies.”