AFP

President Joe Biden’s plans to reboot US engagement with Latin America — especially on critical topics like migration — took a major hit after key partner Mexico snubbed a regional summit opening Monday in Los Angeles to protest Washington’s exclusion of three far-left countries.

What was meant to be a week-long showcase of cooperation looks more likely to become a display of division that reflects diminishing clout over a region where long-time US economic and diplomatic influence faces a growing Chinese challenge.

Confirming it was not inviting Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the Summit of the Americas, a senior White House official cited “reservations regarding the lack of democratic space and the human rights situations.”

In response, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would stay away.

“You cannot have a Summit of the Americas if you do not have all the countries of the Americas attending,” Lopez Obrador announced, complaining of US “hegemony” and “lack of respect for nations.”

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will represent Mexico instead, but the leftist populist leader’s absence will diminish the impact of a summit where US-Mexico relations are at the heart of major immigration and trade issues.

The senior US official did not directly respond to Lopez Obrador’s boycott, saying only that “the United States recognizes and respects the position of allies in support of inclusive dialogue.” The official also said non-governmental representatives from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela would be present.

In Havana, the communist Cuban government issued a statement calling Biden’s decision “anti-democratic and arbitrary.”

Biden is expected to make announcements at the summit on economic cooperation and fighting Covid-19 and climate change, said Juan Gonzalez, the top White House adviser on Latin America.

The US president, who flies to Los Angeles on Wednesday, also hopes to secure an agreement to help regulate surges of migration from the region’s poorer and violent countries to the United States — a major concern for US voters and an area where Republican opponents see Biden as vulnerable in upcoming midterm elections.

– Playing down Mexico spat –

State Department spokesman Ned Price played down the seriousness of the spat with Lopez Obrador, saying “we understand his position” and that the US-Mexican relationship is “broad and deep.”

“Mexico is an important hemispheric player. We are very gratified that… Foreign Secretary Ebrard will be in attendance. We will have a number of opportunities to engage with our Mexican counterparts.”

The Biden administration also notes it has secured the presence of other key regional players, including Argentina’s left-leaning Alberto Fernandez and Brazil’s far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

Benjamin Gedan, who heads the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Lopez Obrador’s absence would mark a “significant void” and said Mexico’s leader seemed more focused on domestic political gain.

The boycott has been “a really unfortunate subplot in the run-up to the summit because it has drained an enormous amount of US diplomatic energy for a bizarre cause celebre,” Gedan said.

Biden has crafted a positive agenda, avoiding simply summoning Latin American leaders to lecture them on democracy, corruption and China, he said.

But, he added, it was unclear whether Biden will bring substantial resources to the table, in contrast to China’s lavish infrastructure spending and trade privileges.

“I think, inevitably, the United States will disappoint,” Gedan said.

– ‘Progressively less ambitious’ –

The Summit of the Americas is the first held by the United States since the inaugural 1994 meeting in Miami, where then-US president Bill Clinton sought the creation of a trade area to cover the whole continent except communist Cuba.

The United States has since soured on free trade, with Biden following the lead of his predecessor Donald Trump, who said such pacts hurt US workers.

Trump championed a hard line on Venezuela and Cuba, and did not attend the last Summit of the Americas, in Peru in 2018. 

Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, recently told a congressional hearing that each summit has become “progressively less ambitious.”

Los Angeles, he said, “offers the perfect opportunity for Washington to announce a commitment to regional growth and recovery.”

Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, said the drama over summit attendance showed Washington’s waning hold over the region as China muscles in.

The United States “still has a lot of soft power,” Shifter said. “As for political and diplomatic influence, it is diminishing by the day.”

A barrage of global crises must not deflect attention from urgent climate action, the UN’s climate chief warned Monday, as negotiators from nearly 200 nations began talks in Germany against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The conference will set the stage for a fresh round of major United Nations talks later this year in Egypt, as climate-driven weather extremes are increasingly felt across the planet.

But nations also face a formidable collection of inter-related challenges, including the Ukraine conflict, energy, food and economic crises, as well as the continued impact of the Covid pandemic.  

Issuing a call for international unity to hold firm, outgoing UN climate change chief Patricia Espinosa told delegates not to lose focus or give up hope.

It was “not acceptable to say that we are in challenging times”, she argued.

“We must understand that climate change is moving exponentially,” she said, opening the June 6 to 16 meeting.

“We can no longer afford to make just incremental progress. We must move these negotiations along more quickly. The world expects it.” 

– ‘Lack of action’ –

Governments have already accepted that climate change is a grave threat to humanity and the planet, and have advocated immediate action to cut fossil fuel emissions and prepare for the growing impacts of warming.

The summary to this year’s landmark climate report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that any further delay in action “will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”.

But as things stand, the world is unlikely to be able to meet the Paris climate deal’s commitment to limit warming “well below” two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and preferably 1.5C.

“There is this disconnect between the scientific evidence of global crisis in the making, of potentially rushing towards unmanageable climate impacts, versus the lack of action,” Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told AFP.

“This is a deep worry.”

While the conference in the German city of Bonn is largely aimed at preparing for the UN COP27 meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh in November, a number of key issues are up for debate.

Among them is a push for countries to speed up their timetable for updating their carbon-cutting plans, to close the gap between warming targets and emissions-cutting action. 

– Funding promises not met –

In May, an analysis from non-profit groups found that countries in the G20 group of major economies had yet to strengthen greenhouse gas reduction goals, despite agreeing to revisit their plans.

Funding from rich polluters to help vulnerable developing nations least responsible for global heating will also be particularly in focus.

A promise of $100 billion a year from 2020 to help them adapt to a warming world has still not been met.

Meanwhile, there are growing calls for “loss and damage” funding for countries already struck by devastating climate impacts. 

“The inability to reduce emissions and ensure adequate adaptation funding is leading to increasing losses and damage in our countries, and we are the ones paying the price,” said Madeleine Diouf Sarr, chair of the Least Developed Countries group.  

Espinosa expressed concern that money to help green the economies of developing nations could shift away as a result of the war in Ukraine, which has roiled energy markets and raised the spectre of a global food crisis as wheat prices soar. 

– ‘Urgency’ –

Fears of a food crisis have intensified in recent weeks, with India moving to ban wheat exports after the hottest March and April on record — blamed largely on climate change — hit harvests.

Countries with exposure to Russian fossil fuels — particularly in Europe — have also scrambled to shore up energy supplies. 

The US, criticised over plans to resume oil and gas drilling, on Monday said it would invoke a key power to compel domestic manufacture of clean energy technology and suspend some solar tariffs to try and boost renewable capacity and tackle climate change. 

Espinosa told reporters that the “very difficult situation” caused by the war only adds to the “urgency of addressing climate change”.

She urged nations to prepare to arrive in Egypt able to demonstrate progress since the 2021 COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. 

Countries made a raft of promises on the sidelines of last year’s meeting — to curb deforestation and methane leaks, for example.

If honoured in full they could, along with official carbon-cutting commitments under the Paris deal, theoretically cap global warming under 2C, research suggests.   

But that means the focus at this year’s meetings needs to be on “accountability”, said Rockstrom. 

“We are now in the delivery phase”.

The Summit of the Americas began under a cloud Monday after Mexico’s leader said he was snubbing President Joe Biden’s invitation because Washington refused to invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela over human rights abuses and lack of democracy.

The dispute, right as the week-long gathering in Los Angeles was getting underway, highlighted the challenges facing the Biden administration’s attempt to solidify US leadership in its own backyard at a time when China is making diplomatic and commercial inroads.

Confirming it was not inviting the three far-left governments, a senior White House official cited “reservations regarding the lack of democratic space and the human rights situations.”

In response, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would stay away.

“You cannot have a Summit of the Americas if you do not have all the countries of the Americas attending,” Lopez Obrador announced, complaining of US “hegemony” and “lack of respect for nations.”

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will represent Mexico instead, but the leftist populist leader’s absence will diminish the impact of a summit where US-Mexico relations are at the heart of major immigration and trade issues.

The senior US official did not directly respond to Lopez Obrador’s boycott, saying only that “the United States recognizes and respects the position of allies in support of inclusive dialogue.” The official also said non-governmental representatives from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela would be present.

Biden is expected to make announcements at the summit on economic cooperation and fighting Covid-19 and climate change, said Juan Gonzalez, the top White House adviser on Latin America.

The US president, who flies to Los Angeles Wednesday, also hopes to secure an agreement on regional cooperation over migration, a major concern for US voters and an area where Republican opponents see Biden as vulnerable in upcoming midterm elections.

The number of Central Americans and Haitians seeking to enter the United States has been surging as they flee poverty and violence in their homelands.

– ‘Unfortunate subplot’ –

Despite the dispute with Mexico, the Biden administration has secured the presence of other key regional players.

These include Argentina’s left-leaning Alberto Fernandez, whom Biden also invited to Washington, and Brazil’s far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

Benjamin Gedan, who heads the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Lopez Obrador’s absence would mark a “significant void” and said Mexico’s leader seemed more focused on domestic political gain.

The boycott has been “a really unfortunate subplot in the run-up to the summit because it has drained an enormous amount of US diplomatic energy for a bizarre cause celebre,” Gedan said.

He said Biden has crafted a positive agenda, avoiding simply summoning Latin American leaders to lecture them on democracy, corruption and China.

But he said it was unclear whether Biden will bring substantial resources to the table, in contrast to China’s lavish infrastructure spending and trade privileges.

“The real barometer for this summit will be whether the United States offers meaningful new market access, lending and foreign assistance to support economic recovery and infrastructure in the region,” Gedan said.

“And there I think, inevitably, the United States will disappoint.”

– ‘Progressively less ambitious’ –

The Summit of the Americas is the first held by the United States since the inaugural 1994 meeting in Miami, where then US president Bill Clinton sought the creation of a trade area to cover the whole continent except communist Cuba.

The United States has since soured on free trade, with Biden following the lead of his predecessor Donald Trump, who said such pacts hurt US workers.

Trump championed a hard line on Venezuela and Cuba, and did not attend the last Summit of the Americas, in Peru in 2018. 

Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, recently told a congressional hearing that each summit has become “progressively less ambitious” with a shift “from a shared vision for democracy, trade and prosperity to a venue for taking a stand.”

Los Angeles, he said, “offers the perfect opportunity for Washington to announce a commitment to regional growth and recovery.”

Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, said the drama over summit attendance showed Washington’s waning hold over the region.

China has emerged as a leading partner, he said, and Latin American leaders are keenly aware of Biden’s political woes including the possibility that Republicans will retake control of Congress in November.

The United States “still has a lot of soft power,” Shifter said. “As for political and diplomatic influence, it is diminishing by the day.”