Los Angeles selected by Biden to host next Summit of Americas

MIAMI — The Biden administration has chosen Los Angeles to host a summit of leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean that is a key part of its outreach to a region increasingly being courted by U.S. adversaries such as Russia and China.

The Summit of the Americas, to take place the week of June 6, will focus on defending democracy and human rights in the Western Hemisphere as well as addressing irregular migration, climate change and efforts to ensure equitable growth as the region emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, a senior congressional aide briefed by the State Department told The Associated Press.

It’s the first time the U.S. is hosting the key regional gathering since 1994, when President Bill Clinton hosted regional leaders in Miami to push for a free trade agreement stretching from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

But with that ambitious goal abandoned long ago amid a rise in leftist, anti-American politics in several parts of the region, many experts have questioned the need for an expensive gathering of more than 30 heads of state each pushing their own bilateral agenda with Washington but often cooperating little amongst themselves.

The region in recent years has diversified its trade and diplomatic ties and the U.S. has largely stood by as Russia, China, Iran and other foreign powers hostile to the U.S. have gained influence in what for decades was somewhat referred to as Washington’s backyard.

President Donald Trump didn’t even bother to show up for the last summit, in Peru in 2018.

“The U.S. is holding the Summit at the edge of a global pandemic, with authoritarianism on the rise and waning influence in the hemisphere,” said Jennie Lincoln, a senior adviser at the Atlanta-based Carter Center focusing on peace initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. “What incentives will the Biden Administration offer and what will it ask in return in this new competitive environment?”