From June 6 to 10, Joe Biden and the U.S. are hosting the “Summit of the Americas” in Los Angeles. According to the State Department, the objectives are to “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.”

U.S. Imperialism in the Americas: Genocidal Crimes, Domination and Hypocrisy

First, to understand the overall context, aims and actual objectives of the Summit, start with this, from Bob Avakian (BA), the leader of the revolution:

[R]elying on its military as well as its economic power as coercion, U.S. imperialism not only continues to politically dominate but to economically exploit and plunder countries throughout the Third World. Again, the countries of Latin America, and in particular Mexico, El Salvador and other parts of Central America, and the Caribbean—which the imperialists of the U.S. arrogantly regard as their “back yard”—have been the special targets of all this. Not only has the U.S. repeatedly carried out military invasions and coups to overthrow governments there, and backed murderous dictatorships with their bloodthirsty death squads terrorizing the people, but it has imposed economic “agreements” that have further bled these countries and intensified the misery of the masses of people there…¹

Domination of Latin America and the Caribbean has been a cornerstone of the U.S. as a world power. The Summit of the Americas evolved out of the Organization of American States (OAS), an organizational form that concentrated and manifested this domination during the days of the Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union.² It was—and is—a form through which the U.S. consolidated domination of Latin America after World War 2, pushing out rival imperialists and suppressing righteous rebellions against its domination, and backing bloody, oppressive rulers. The OAS has served as a thin façade of representing “the Americas” but is really a means through which the U.S. has directly perpetrated or orchestrated horrific crimes against the people of the Americas.

To name just a few of the crimes by the U.S. in the post-World War 2 era: The U.S. attempted to isolate and overthrow the government of Cuba in the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion. The U.S. orchestrated a fascist coup in Chile in 1973. It backed genocidal death squads in Guatemala (1954-1986), and counter-revolutionary and fascist regimes in Bolivia (1971-1978) and Nicaragua (1936-1979). It invaded Haiti (in 1915 and again in 1994) and Panama (1989-1990). The U.S. installed and backed a death squad regime in El Salvador (1980-1992); and perpetrated a war of terror against the people of Nicaragua. (And this is just a very partial list! For more on some of these crimes committed by the U.S. against the people of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean, see American Crimes in Latin America).³

All those crimes and so many more were committed in the name of “democracy.”

Repeating this theme, this year, the U.S. (as the host country) “uninvited” Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from attending the summit, claiming they don’t meet its standards of democracy.

To “decode” what the rulers of this country mean when they talk about spreading “democracy”, let’s go again to a profound truth from BA:

The essence of what exists in the U.S. is not democracy but capitalism-imperialism and political structures to enforce that capitalism-imperialism. What the U.S. spreads around the world is not democracy, but imperialism and political structures to enforce that imperialism.

BAsics 1:3

This—imperialism not democracy as the real criteria—becomes starkly clear in the hypocrisy on who has been “invited” and who was not.⁴ The “disinvited,” countries—Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua—are ruled by regimes that have resisted naked U.S. domination of the region and their countries. They are more aligned with rival imperialist powers opposed to the U.S., economically, politically and militarily (countries from whom the U.S. is facing new challenges).

U.S. Imperialism in the Americas: Confronting New Challenges

In recent years, China, a rising rival imperialist power,⁵ replaced the U.S. as South America’s top trading partner. It has invested heavily in Latin America’s energy industries, infrastructure, and has strengthened its military ties with several countries, particularly Venezuela. The rulers of the U.S. see a strategic threat in all this (see “China’s Growing Influence in Latin America,” Council on Foreign Relations, April 12, 2022).

This assessment from an expert at the U.S. Army War College reveals how the “strategic advisors” to U.S. empire perceive the new challenges:

Latin America and the Caribbean, to which the United States is intimately linked by ties of geography, commerce, and family, currently faces an unprecedented confluence of challenges potentially affecting our [SIC] security and prosperity… The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated endemic problems in the region…. increasing inequality and insecurity, and fueling expanded migration to the U.S.

Meanwhile, citizen frustration with the performance of past governments across the region has fueled an unprecedented shift to the left to the region, including the consolidation of power by populist authoritarian governments such as those in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba, and anti-democratic elements and potential crises leading left-oriented governments in potentially worrisome directions in Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, and Chile.  These governments present the risk of decreased cooperation with the U.S. on critical issues such as drugs, transnational organized crime, and migration, while creating opportunities for the expanded presence in the region of U.S. rivals, including the PRC [People’s Republic of China], Russia, and Iran. (Emphasis added)

In other words: the U.S. faces strategic threats from the increased inflow of migrants, the rise of regimes potentially unfriendly and unfavorable to U.S. imperialist interests, and increased challenges to historic U.S. domination from imperialist rivals like China and Russia. Biden and the U.S.’s aims for the summit have to be seen in this context: of re-asserting U.S. influence and domination over the region, pushing back on rival imperialist powers “encroaching” in what it has considered its backyard and “sphere of influence,” and repressively handling the increased inflow of migrant refugees. 

But the open and explicit exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the invite list for the summit provoked a “diplomatic crisis” for Biden and the U.S., and a potential pitfall in achieving U.S. aims. Mexican President López Obrador has, at this point, declared he will not attend unless all countries of the Americas can participate (although he will send an underling). The leaders of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala, and several Caribbean states have also declared that they won’t go, or else will send lower-profile delegations. These pose major contradictions for Biden and the U.S. and their efforts to re-assert U.S. influence and dominance, and present a “united front” of the U.S.-“allies” in this context. As we go to press, all this is still unfolding, with likely high-level bargaining among oppressive rulers.

This kind of insubordination is, on the one hand, symbolic. But for the rulers of the U.S., it’s an embarrassment and exposes and exacerbates serious fissures in U.S. domination of a region that has been historically essential to its role as the world’s unchallenged capitalist-imperialist superpower. Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico (among the largest and most dominant countries in Latin America) are deeply locked into subordinate relationships with the U.S. but they also have their own interests. In a world of increasingly powerful Chinese capitalism-imperialism and moves by Russia to re-emerge on the world stage as a capitalist-imperialist military and political power, the rulers of those countries sense an opportunity to maneuver and improve their still-subordinated position in the world imperialist system.

Adding to the stakes for Biden and the Democrats: In the context of fierce and intensifying irreconcilable conflict in the U.S. ruling class, a significant boycott of the summit from other powers, as well as any concessions Biden makes to avoid it, might be fodder for Trumpite fascists to portray Biden and the Democrats as “wimps” when—in their fascist vision—the U.S. should be the overt, unconstrained, and undisputed uncontested shot-caller in the world.

Message to Desperate Migrants Fleeing U.S.-Imposed Starvation and Death: “DON’T COME”

Over the past few years, a torrent of millions of desperate immigrants fleeing poverty, rape, crime, official violence, and death in Latin America and the Caribbean have risked, and often lost, their lives attempting to seek refuge in the U.S.

Those who “make it” across the border without legal status live in the shadows, hunted by authorities, and demonized, scapegoated and targeted by fascists who see them as part of an existential threat to “replace” white supremacist America. They are victimized by (and often coerced into joining) gangs that extort, traffic, prostitute and murder these desperate immigrants (who often are fleeing gangs). They work in the lowest paying, most dangerous jobs in service industries, construction, and agriculture. And just since March 2020, almost two million immigrants have been expelled from the U.S. under the pretext of controlling COVID, including those with a supposed legal right to apply for political asylum. Tens of thousands are locked down in squalid camps on the Mexican border that are periodically torn down by authorities with little food, water or shelter from the elements.

From the standpoint of humanity, this is a damning indictment of those who rule this world and their system. But from the standpoint of the rulers, the immigration crisis is a threat to the stability and legitimacy of their system. And coming from that—the threat to the stability of their system—Biden has put controlling migration on the agenda at the summit. And he claims the summit will address “root causes of migration.”

What the rulers of the U.S. are proposing to address the “root causes” of migration is in part a plan for converting more small farms to coffee growing for export, and creating an infrastructure for more brutally exploitive and environmentally destructive fabric sweatshops.⁶ These plans would exacerbate the very factors driving people from their homes in Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador—climate change and environmental devastation, and the ruin of small-scale agriculture. Those are “root causes” of conditions that have, since 2014, driven more than two million people to flee those countries.

But whether or not Biden’s destructive economic initiatives get off the ground, the essence of Biden’s plan to “address the root causes” of a wave of migration was expressed in Vice President Harris’ warning to the desperate masses: “Do not come! Do not come! The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders. If you come to our border, you will be turned back.” (See “Kamala Harris Slams Door in Face of Desperate Guatemalan Immigrants: “DO NOT COME!”)

And the U.S. has “outsourced” much of the detention of migrants from Central America to Mexico, “out of sight” from people in this country. In Mexico, tens of thousands of people, including children, are held in filthy conditions—often without mattresses to sleep on, working toilets, drinkable water, or access to medical care. They are denied legal assistance for asylum claims, the ability to communicate with family, and the Mexican government has banned inspections by non-governmental agencies. (See “IMMIGRATION DETENTION IN MEXICO: BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CENTRAL AMERICA,” Global Detention Project, 2021.)

Biden seeks to turbo-charge this message and program, in the context of new challenges and the prospect of increased migrant-refugees.⁷

It's NOT OUR EMPIRE

Ruling class mouthpieces are wringing their hands at how the chaos surrounding who is going to show up at the summit is an “embarrassment that could erode U.S. influence in the region” and a “real tragedy [for] a region desperately in need of coordination and support.” (“Biden administration races to salvage Summit of Americas in Los Angeles” Los Angeles Times, 5/23/2022).

Please! The last thing people in Latin America (or anywhere else) need is “coordination and support” from this bloody-jawed empire. And while “our” rulers scramble to pull something out of this summit for them, OUR INTERESTS lie with the masses of people in their millions throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and the whole world who are victims of this country.

Again, turning to BAsics (3:8):

The interests, objectives, and grand designs of the imperialists are not our interests—they are not the interests of the great majority of people in the U.S. nor of the overwhelming majority of people in the world as a whole. And the difficulties the imperialists have gotten themselves into in pursuit of these interests must be seen, and responded to, not from the point of view of the imperialists and their interests, but from the point of view of the great majority of humanity and the basic and urgent need of humanity for a different and better world, for another way.