President Biden warns Summit of the Americas democracy under assault
LOS ANGELES (CMC) – President Joe Biden has warned that democracy is under assault around the world and called on leaders of the Americas to unite and renew their conviction that democracy is not only the defining feature of history but the essential ingredient to the future.
“To state the obvious, our region is large and diverse. We don’t always agree on everything, but, because we’re democracies, we work through our disagreements with mutual respect and dialogue,” Biden told the opening of the Ninth Summit of the Americas on Wednesday night.
“At this summit, we have an opportunity for us to come together around some bold ideas, ambitious actions, and to demonstrate to our people the incredible power of democracies to deliver concrete benefits and make life better for everyone.”
At least eight Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders are participating in the event that ends on Friday. Caricom countries had been divided on whether or not to attend the Summit in support of calls for the host nation to invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the deliberations.
St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is the only Caricom leader who has publicly announced that he nor any other government minister will be attending the summit that is also not being attended by several other countries notably among them, Mexico.
The Summit is being held under the theme “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future” for the hemisphere and Washington has said that “as chair and host” it will “work with the region’s stakeholders toward securing leader-level commitments and concrete actions that dramatically improve pandemic response and resilience, promote a green and equitable recovery, build strong and inclusive democracies, and address the root causes of irregular migration”.