The abiding memory of the VII Summit of the Americas in Panama from 10 to 11 April will be the presence of Cuba’s President Raúl Castro and the private meeting he held with his US peer Barack Obama. This historic event was not upstaged by the diplomatic spat between the US and Venezuela over the recent executive order declaring the country a threat to US national security and ordering sanctions against seven officials. Obama was lectured by several leaders present about past US interventions in the region, but he stressed his focus was on regional cooperation for future prosperity with equity (the theme of the Summit) which received little media coverage, although a series of accords on energy and education were struck.
It is worth noting that for all the talk of summit saturation in recent years, with the myriad integration movements forged in the region, some of which have been designed with the express purpose of excluding the ‘imperialist’ US, the Summit of the Americas – a US brainchild – had full attendance, with the exception of President Michelle Bachelet, who is overseeing the humanitarian response to a natural disaster in northern Chile.