Countries exacted price for US lack of attention to Latin America, says professor

This Monday (6th) the Summit of the Americas began, an event that brings together leaders from across the American continent. The meeting will take place between June 6 and 10, and will feature the first meeting between Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and American President Joe Biden.

In an interview with CNN , ESPM International Relations professor Leonardo Trevisan analyzed the current diplomatic scenario between Brazil and the United States. According to the expert, Bolsonaro used the fact that the host of the Summit, Biden, needed the presence of more international leaders at the event — a few days before the start of the Summit, the scenario was still one of uncertainty regarding which Latin-American presidents Americans would attend.

“On the part of President Bolsonaro, he used as much as he could, the fact that President Biden needed his presence. Somehow he even took advantage of a certain personal settling of accounts by charging that President Biden did not greet him at the G20 meeting,” he said.

According to Trevisan, the lack of attention of US governments in relation to Latin America has generated demands on the part of the main regional leaders. “The US didn’t have time for Latin America. Both the Mexican president and the Brazilian president, the two largest GDPs in Latin America, took their toll on increased US attention to their presence at the Summit of the Americas,” he said.

The moment for the US is turbulent diplomatically, with its concern being demanded by the conflict in Ukraine and other conflicts in Asia – such as the complicated relations with China and North Korea. “There is not much political space for greater US attention at this time for Latin America.”

One of the reasons that may have attracted American eyes to Latin American countries is China’s rapprochement with the continent. “What is happening is that US businessmen who do business with Brazil, and the US State Department’s own leadership, have noticed Chinese competition. And they warned, we need to pay some attention to our neighbors, because the enemy is gaining ground. And it’s not a little space, it’s a very consistent space, especially in investments”, analyzed Trevisan. “The US obviously looks at this with the eyes of a competitor that is losing ground. They are trying to recover, but they have more tense political situations.”

With the assignment of choosing the guests for the Summit of the Americas, the US chose to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the list, as they are non-diplomatic countries. For the expert, the movement was not very skillful: “By not inviting Cuba in particular, but Venezuela and Nicaragua as well, it weakens the interests, especially of Latin American countries, in attending a Summit that is not quite Latin American”.

*Under supervision.