Hon. John Briceño, our Prime Minister and Chairman of CARICOM, made some big waves at the 9th Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles, USA, when he challenged the host nation for its failure to invite Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to the sessions, and called on the hosts to work harder at addressing the problems in our region. Hon. Briceño said the non-invitees should have been there because “geography, not politics, defines the Americas.” Several nations in the Americas boycotted the Summit to protest the exclusion of the three countries, who weren’t invited because their governments are out of favor with the US. Sonia Pérez D., of the Associated Press, said Guatemala, also a no-show, stayed away because the Biden administration had criticized its government for reappointing an attorney general “the U.S. accuses of protecting the corrupt.”
PM Briceño said we need a more “socially just Americas”, and he warned that the region and the world “are at the tipping point”, facing “existential threats” such as climate change, a crushing debt crisis, poverty, irregular migration, and division. He praised Cuba and Venezuela for the excellent support they have given to the less developed countries in our region over the years. He described the six-decades- long US embargo on Cuba as an “illegal blockade”, and declared it to be “un-American.”
Mark Keller , Elizabeth Gonzalez , Hope Wilkinson and Carin Zissis, in a story published by AS/COA (Americas Society, Council of the Americas), said the 1st Summit of the Americas was convened by US president Bill Clinton in 1994 and its aim was to develop a new relationship with the hemisphere in the post-Cold War environment. The Summits are held every three or four years, and only democratically elected leaders in the Americas are invited. Cuba, the story says, traditionally “has not participated, though it joined both the 2015 and 2018 Summits.”
The US has been leading the Western Hemisphere for around 200 years. With the announcement of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the US declared that it was taking charge in the West. The US’s National Archives says the Monroe Doctrine is “the best known U.S. policy toward the Western Hemisphere” and its mission was to warn “European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs.” After WWII, US dominance would extend beyond the Americas, across the globe to Europe, Africa, and Asia, everywhere.
A former colony of the British, the US insisted it wasn’t interested in making colonies of the nations in the Americas, but implicit in the Monroe Doctrine is that it expects us to cooperate. It’s not a one-sided arrangement. In return for American business folk/businesses getting royally handled, the US ensures that there is stability in the West. When governments fail to “cooperate,” they are destabilized, through interference in the democratic process, or through orchestrated insurrection.
How the US handled Panama’s separation from Colombia is instructive. The website history.com says, “In 1903, Panama declared its independence from Colombia in a U.S.-backed revolution,” and after the dust settled “the U.S. agreed to pay Panama $10 million for a perpetual lease on land for the canal [Panama Canal], plus $250,000 annually in rent.”
The US has failed numerous times as the leader of the Americas. The US was cozy with the corrupt Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who stymied the democratic process and allowed his country to become a playground for American gangsters. When Fidel Castro and his band overthrew Batista in 1959, the US, instead of recognizing its failure in Cuba and trying to make amends, allied with anti-Castro elements that sought to violently remove him. This forced the Castro regime to turn to the USSR, to bolster their revolution.
In 1954, ruthless CIA agents overthrew Jacobo Arbenz, the democratically elected president of Guatemala. According to files from the Baltimore County History Labs Program, the American multinational, United Fruit Company (UFC), apart from owning Guatemala’s telephone and telegraph system and much of its railroad track, had gained control of 42% of Guatemala’s land and won exemption “from paying taxes and import duties.” Arbenz’s reformist government redistributed undeveloped private lands to landless farmers, and he allowed Guatemala’s 4,000 communists to participate in the country’s politics. When Arbenz expropriated idle lands from UFC, the company rejected the compensation the government had proposed and swung into action, screaming that the Arbenz government was communist.
Repeatedly, the greed of some US citizens has hurt their image and caused pain in the region. John Dulles was US Secretary of State, and his law firm represented UFC; Dulles brother, Allen, was the Director of the CIA. They and other highly connected Americans who had interests in UFC, conspired and drove Arbenz out of government. The Baltimore papers say a surprised Arbenz turned to the US government for support when he came under attack, not knowing that the US’s CIA had organized the coup against him. After the US betrayal, Guatemala would fall into a bloody civil war that lasted 36 years.
Apart from facilitating rapacious US businessmen, US foreign policy has engendered environments where local elites amass millions, while crushing poverty is the lot of the masses. The Americans fight communism, while their policies have helped make many countries in the Americas hotbeds of discontent. Its war against cocaine has made Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico some of the most murderous places on earth.
The people of the Americas are grateful to the US for the relative stability in our region, admire its democracy, and yearn for its standard of living. We know the US doesn’t have all the blame for the problems in our region. But it has played no small role. Disappointingly, the single leader who showed the compassion and understanding the Americas need is reviled at home. Jimmy Carter, the US’s 39th president (1977-81), cut back support to cruel military regimes in the region, helped Belize on its path to independence, eased as much pressure as he could off Cuba, and signed a treaty with Panama that gave the people of that country ownership of the canal in 1999.
After Carter left office, the US returned to its brand of “colonialism” that gives unfettered run to American businessmen and local elites, and leaves the masses to scramble for crumbs. Today, just about the only hope for destitute people living south of the Rio Grande is to join caravans, trek through Mexico, and scale their (American) wall that was built to keep us out.
PM Briceño spoke boldly. There are many challenges presently plaguing our region—crushing poverty, unbelievably horrific levels of violence, and escalating global warming-induced natural disasters. Our banking system is crippled by severe US-instituted restrictions. These are critical times, and the people of the Americas need the US to engage us in meaningful dialogue. That’s why the PM made waves when he spoke at the summit.