2023-11-02 17:41:00
Luis Lacalle Pou, from Uruguay, Luis Abinader from the Dominican Republic and Rodrigo Chaves Robles from Costa Rica in the first panel of the morning, along with the host, the president of the IDB, Ilan Goldfajn. Gonzalo Ferreira
(Washington, United States) Latin American presidents who landed in Washington this week for a summit organized by President Joe Biden to improve the continent’s relations with the United States welcomed the fact that the North American government is looking at the region and is willing to take steps stronger integration.
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“I regained optimism in the relationship with the US. We perhaps felt left a little left out and this initiative by President Biden and this presence with our colleagues opens an interesting door,” said the president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou this Thursday at an event organized by the United States government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in the run-up to the summit called Alliance of the Americas for Economic Prosperity (APEP).
The Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, was in the same sense. “The US has lost influence in Latin America during these years. The way to recover it is not with hegemony but with cooperation. “APEP can be a space for economic cooperation and environmental rights.”
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These visions were shared by the president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Cháves, in a panel that also included the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader and the host, the president of the IDB, Ilan Goldfajn.
In a second panel of presidents with the presence of Boric, Dina Boluarte from Peru and Guillermo Lasso from Ecuador there were also references to how the US had a gesture with this event.
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“It was time for Latin American countries to have a summit to talk between us and the United States,” Lasso said.
The Uruguayan president practices surfing and the topic was brought up in the forum between the presidents to joke regarding which country has the best beaches for that sport: Costa Rica or the Dominican Republic?
In the first dialogue of the morning between presidents there was time for jokes and competition over which of the three countries has the best beaches. Abinader, who spoke following Lacalle spoke regarding the advantages of Uruguay for investing, said that his country may not have raw materials but it does have better beaches.
Appealing to Lacalle’s love for surfing, Chaves asked him in which country he preferred to practice the sport and the Uruguayan confessed that in Costa Rica. “When he was free and happy, he went around the world surfing,” he told them while the four speakers took a photo but with an open microphone. Before, in the panel, he told them that with this discussion he had a reason to invite the presidents to his country so that they might see the Uruguayan beaches.
The APEP was presented by Biden during the Summit of the Americas last year and at the beginning of 2023, 11 countries plus the United States joined this mechanism. For Abinader, “it is time to move on to concrete facts.” Boric raised the same thing.
Luis Lacalle Pou, from Uruguay, Luis Abinader from the Dominican Republic and Rodrigo Chaves Robles from Costa Rica in the first panel of the morning, together with the host, the president of the IDB, Ilan Golfajn (Gonzalo Ferreira)
“The great opportunity we have is to move from this very correct diagnosis that we have made of what Latin America needs and its relationship with the United States, to facts,” said the Dominican president.
“That Latin America has landed in Washington is very good news,” said Lacalle.
Boric was optimistic regarding APEP’s commitment, but asked that it now show progress: “That it has concrete results for our people,” said the Chilean president, who also noted that he would like to see other countries in the region in this agreement and He pointed to Argentina. Brazil, Paraguay and why not later Venezuela.
The president clarified that these countries are not in APEP because they do not have the level of trade with the United States that the 11 countries that do make up it: “But we have to find a way to integrate,” he considered.
The two wars that currently attract the most attention were present in the forums. Several presidents highlighted the impacts that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is having.
All those who referred to the issue (Boric, Boluarte, Lasso) condemned the Russian invasion. There were different positions on the war in the Middle East.
Boric and Boluarte in the preview of the APEP at the IDB. Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira.
“Russia’s unacceptable invasion of Ukraine, which has been sustained over time, hit our agricultural supply chains very hard,” Boric said.
Regarding the war in Gaza, he described the one committed by Hamas once morest Israel as “unacceptable aggression,” but assured that later there was an “excessive and disproportionate response from Israel,” something that also affects the countries of the region.
President Lasso pointed out that one of the points that matters most to him at this summit is to get people talking regarding security, given that it is one of the aspects that most concerns the region.
“I would like us to talk at this summit regarding an important issue for our country: security,” Lasso said. “Today there is no conflict between one country and another. In Latin America, what there is is a common enemy of all countries: drug trafficking, human trafficking, general violence in the street as we have felt in Ecuador in recent times,” added the president.
The second forum of the morning at the IDB was made up of presidents Boric of Chile, Boluarte of Peru and Lasso of Ecuador. Photo: Gonzalo Ferreira
Lasso suggested to the IDB that the organization should work more on this issue. “It is essential to talk regarding security as a problem that affects all countries equally,” he insisted.
The president of Peru dedicated much of her time to talking regarding how her country is now “stable” and open to investments, following the turbulent episodes that resulted from the coup d’état that her predecessor Pedro Castillo attempted and the violent demonstrations that the administration. de Boluarte repressed.
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