How Biden Can Salvage Summit of the Americas
How Biden Can Salvage Summit of the Americas
"Substantive engagement, and a lot of listening" followed by robust follow up is key, said AS/COA's Steve Liston to Voice of America.
U.S. President Joe Biden heads to Los Angeles, California, Wednesday to host the ninth Summit of the Americas (SOA) - a gathering that will be skipped by the leaders of Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and others amid protests of Washington's exclusion of the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
The absence of six heads of government has cast a shadow over what nominally is billed as a hemisphere-wide summit to address the region's challenges, including economic insecurity, pandemic recovery, climate change, migration and political polarization. […]
"There is no question that right now, the region feels it is not getting the attention that it should," said Steve Liston, senior director at the Washington office of the Council of the Americas to VOA. "They just haven't seen the engagement."…
"Substantive engagement, and a lot of listening" followed by robust follow up is key, said Steve Liston of the New York-based Council of the Americas. "Meaningful post-summit engagement would help reverse the impression left by the run-up."…
