The sixth Summit of the Americas () was held at Cartagena, Colombia, on April 14–15, 2012. The central theme of the summit was "Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity." The main issues at the summit's agenda was the exclusion of Cuba, the legalisation of drugs to fight the war on drugs and Argentina's sovereignty claims over the Falkland Islands. Additionally, criticism of an expansionist monetary policy was also leveled on the developed economies. A final statement was not forthcoming over the issue of Cuba's inclusion in the next summit which was supported by all states except the United States and Canada. Panama was chosen to host the 7th Summit of the Americas.
Background The Summits of the Americas are a continuing series of summits bringing together the leaders of the Americas including North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America, except Cuba. The function of these summits is to foster discussion of a variety of issues affecting the western hemisphere. In the early 1990s, what were formerly ad hoc summits came to be institutionalised into a regular "Summits of the Americas" conference programme.Twaddle, Andrew C. (2002). Health Care Reform Around the World, p. 382.
In regards to a potential controversy sparked by boycotts over the exclusion of Cuba, host president Santos flew to Cuba where he got assurances from Raúl Castro that the country would not insist on attendance that could have embarrassed Colombia.
Agenda
The host president Juan Manuel Santos said of the expectations for the summit that "if the United States realises its long-term strategic interests are not in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but in Latin America...there will be great results." He also said that the issue of Cuba was one matter that would be discussed. U.S. President Barack Obama said the Cuban issue was moot to the U.S. claiming that the government of Cuba has "shown no interest in changing their relationship with the United States, nor any willingness to respect the democratic and human rights of the Cuban people." The U.S. and Canada cited a clause in the OAS charter that only includes democratically elected governments for their decisions not to invite Cuba. Another important issue would be the war on drugs amid U.S. allies Guatemala and Colombia calling for the legalisation of drugs, with Mexico also calling for at least a debate; a move the United States rejects with Obama saying before the summit that the U.S. would not support the measure to "legalise or decriminalise drugs because doing so would have serious negative consequences in all our countries in terms of public health and safety." Host Foreign Minister María Ángela Holguín said that the exclusion of Cuba and the Cuban blockade would be brought up by several countries including Argentina, Nicaragua and Peru.
The ongoing crisis and "war of words" between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falkland Islands, which has also resulted in a ban on marine vessels entering ports in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay if they are coming from the islands and controversy over the "militarisation" of the conflict, was also said to be a point of discussion. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said that "there should not be colonial possessions in our America." Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said he hoped the summit would result in a "new manifestation of solidarity" over the dispute of the islands. Out of the 34 countries present at the summit the positions of two of them, Canada (opposed) and the U.S. (neutral), prevented the achievement of a joint statement supporting Argentina's claim over the Falklands.
Discussions The discussions at the summit included Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's criticism of U.S. expansionist monetary policy that she said was contributing to uncontrolled capital inflows causing emerging market currencies to appreciate and would hurt trade competitiveness. "The way these countries, the most developed ones, especially in the euro region in the last year, have reacted to the crisis with monetary expansion has produced a monetary tsunami. Obviously we have to take measures to defend ourselves. Note the word I chose - 'defend', not 'protect.'" Santos reiterated the criticism saying that "in some way, [they] are exporting their crisis to us via the appreciation of our currencies." He also opened the summit with the issue of Cuba: "It's an anachronism that keeps us anchored to a Cold War era we came out of various decades ago. [Another summit without Cuba is] unacceptable." He also accused those who opposed Cuba inclusion as having "ideological stubbornness", as well as saying Haiti "on its knees is unacceptable." Only two countries dissented over the inclusion of Cuba, while the member states of ALBA even said that a summit without Cuba was "unjustified and unsustainable" and that they would boycott summits without Cuba. For his part, despite saying, the United States wanted to work "as equal partners with our brothers and sisters in Latin America and the Caribbean" because of the potential for trade between "nearly a billion consumers", Obama dismissed a possibility of reform on the United States' Cuba policy and drug legalisation: Sometimes those controversies date back to before I was born. And sometimes I feel as if ... we're caught in a time warp ... going back to the 1950s, gunboat diplomacy, and Yankees, and the Cold War and this and that. I don't mind a debate around issues like decriminalisation. I personally don't agree that's a solution to the problem. But I think that given the pressures that a lot of governments are under here, under-resourced, overwhelmed by violence, it's completely understandable that they would look for new approaches, and we want to cooperate with them.
Guatemala's Otto Pérez Molina worked with Honduras' Porfirio Lobo and Costa Rica's Laura Chinchilla to cover ground over the legalisation of drugs. Panama's Ricardo Martinelli was also said to be open to the idea, though Nicaragua and El Salvador (Nicaragua who together with Honduras boycotted a summit called by Guatemala to discuss the issue) were opposed to it.
Lobo also added that Central American foreign ministers would meet on 14 April to discuss Chinchilla's proposal for a "complete review" of the Central America's regional security strategy her government sanction in 2011. The meeting was also attended by the host president, Santos, and Mexico's Felipe Calderón. Santos and Calderon also said that they would discuss the issue of public safety as a result of the war on drugs.
Caribbean countries, including Saint Lucia, raised the matter of the proliferation of arms such as light weapons.
Reactions and other events Bilateral meetings at the summit included those between the United States and Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina and Peru.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said of Obama that his inner circle of advisers deliberately ensure that he is kept ignorant of the regional reality and that it was distasteful to Latin Americans that he visited Cartagena. He added: "Unfortunately, after three years in office he has inherited the cynicism and perversion of his predecessor."
Cuban response While Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega held a solidarity rally with Cuba in Managua, Cuba's Ambassador to Nicaragua Eduardo Martinez Borbonet said his country was appreciative of Nicaragua's solidarity with the "legitimate rights" of Cuba. He also criticised the summit as "incomplete" and that it proved the U.S. failed to isolate Cuba. He further suggested that Ortega prove that there was a lack of transparency about the summit after the Obama Administration offered no new change to policy while trying to "conceal" the unanimous support for Cuba amongst CELAC countries, saying of Obama's summit speech that he was "an intelligent man, but he failed to behave as a statesman by avoiding issues like Cuba and the Argentinian claim of sovereignty over the illegally seized Falklands." According to him, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, despite ideological differences, came together in defense of their national interests. "Unless the U.S. really understands Latin America and the Caribbean, there would be no restructuring of a new approach in relations among equals, as promised by Obama, because we demand respect."
Conclusions Argentina's Hector Timerman, who was not at the summit, said that a declaration from the summit was held up over the inclusion of Cuba that was supported by 32 countries but opposed by the U.S. He added that "there will be no final declaration of the summit because the United States vetoed the articles about Cuba, a veto that Canada joined." Canada's Stephen Harper was, however, reportedly considering a final declaration that would include calls for the reincorporation of Cuba without conditions, albeit with their reservations. The ALBA member states also said they would boycott any future summits without the inclusion of Cuba. Argentina and Uruguay's foreign ministers also said that they would not sign a declaration without the U.S. and Canada's veto of Cuban participation withdrawn. Colombia and Brazil also reiterated comments that there would not be a summit anymore without Cuba.
At the close of the summit at about noon on 15 April, Santos said: "There is no declaration because there is no consensus. Hopefully within three years we can have Cuba." However, he added that the 7th Summit of the Americas in 2015 would be held in Panama. Honduras' Porfirio Lobo also said that "there is no consensus yet. We must make a diagnosis, see what alternative we can find to what is being done."
Santos also outlined five mandates which, he said, came out of the summit: Mitigate the adverse effect of natural disasters. Security issues in order to combat violence, corruption, and transnational organised crime. Infrastructure development by enhancing projects in order to establish hemisphere-wide road, rail, and electrical networks. Information and communication technologies to be enhanced in the spheres of education, healthcare, innovation, entrepreneurship, productivity, competitiveness and the rise of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. Importantly, to eradicate poverty by "establishing inclusive social policies that foster decent, dignified, and productive employment will be the priority for the region."
Security issues The day before the summit two explosions occurred in Bogotá near the U.S. embassy at about 19:30 and two other explosions followed in Cartagena.
U.S. security misconduct
United States Secret Service personnel, who were in the country to protect the president, brought prostitutes into their hotel before the president arrived. Though Colombian police said that five people were involved, a preliminary investigation by the United States Southern Command suggested that 11 people could have been involved. They had their top-secret security clearances revoked, had to turn in their agency-issued BlackBerrys, were sent back from the summit, and were placed on administrative leave. The decision to send the agents back to the United States was initiated by the head of the Secret Service's field office in Miami, Paula Reid, who served as liaison between the Secret Service, local governments, and other U.S. agencies involved in preparing for President Obama's visit to Colombia after she received rumours of an unpaid prostitute knocking on doors and yelling in the hallway of a neighbouring hotel.