Above Photo: the scene 2 blocks from Biden’s exclusive Summit. Bill Hackwell.
The Summit of the Americas has begun in Los Angeles and the Tower of Babel that Biden built is already tottering. Since June 6, the civil society forums have been in session and clashes between those who support the hegemonic role of the United States and those who defend the sovereignty of the Latin American peoples have not ceased.
In these spaces, the discourse of hatred towards those arbitrarily excluded by the U.S. government has prevailed. It was a scenario prepared down to the smallest detail since not only were the governments of Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela excluded, but their civil society representatives.
At this point, the most visible case is the 23 Cuban artists, scientists, and social leaders whose visas were not processed to prevent them from attending the Peoples’ Summit. The objective is to make the reality of Cuba and the other states invisible, to replace it with a different one that justifies the permanent aggressions these peoples suffer. That’s why the organizers have invited other political actors, disguised as civil society activists, whose speeches are not only in line with the U.S. policy of interference but are designed in the State Department or the office of some Senators and Congressmen.
After seeing this staging, it is understandable that what happened yesterday took both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Luis Almagro by surprise. Neither was prepared to hear the truth so close up.
As Blinken was pretending to give lessons on democracy and freedom of the press when he crashed with two stones, two journalists who know very well the double standards of American politicians. Both Abby Martin (The Empire Files & Media Roots News) and Eugene Puryear (Break Through News) reminded Blinken that the United States has no moral high ground to offer lessons about those issues when it turned the blind eye after the murders of journalists Sheerin Abu Akala and Yamal Jashogyi . Both were U.S. citizens, and since the alleged perpetrators are U.S. strategic allies, freedom of the press can wait.
On the other hand, Puryear questioned the Biden administration’s parameters for measuring democracy. He wondered how is it possible to exclude Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua because they are considered “anti-democratic countries” while inviting Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was not democratically elected and is even suspected of being linked to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Something similar happened to Almagro, who was unable to articulate a coherent response when a member of the audience reminded him of all the attacks against democracy and freedom of the press he has taken part in. Among the most recent ones are the Sacaba and Senkata massacres, where 36 people were murdered for peacefully demanding the return to democracy after the coup d’état in Bolivia, with which Almagro actively collaborated.
In the same context, journalist Sebastián Moro was beaten to death in his apartment. The simple fact of exposing the truth about the human rights violations during the coup government of Jeanine Añez and the hidden powers behind the coup d’état cost him his life.
The most curious thing about all these facts is that although those were live events, none of the present mainstream media reported them. Now it is visible how real freedom of the press is in the professor’s home.
The IX Summit of the Americas is already a resounding failure for Biden, and all those who still believe that the important issues of the region can be solved there. However, it would be unfair not to recognize that the Summit also has a positive side: it has provided the perfect excuse for more than 250 social organizations to meet in the same city to hold the real summit, the People’s Summit for Democracy. Here is where the real problems of Latin America will be discussed by those who suffer the consequences, the poor and marginalized majorities of the region.
Perhaps this will be the opportunity for those who still doubt to choose which cause is more just, whether that of a handful of politicians whose only objective are profits or the social movements that cry out for justice and equity.