SUMMIT OF DISCONTENT

The 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He was right. And so the recently concluded Summit of the Americas raises a good question: Can the house of the Americas stand firm given its growing cracks?

In the lead-up to the meeting, which took place in Los Angeles, California, on June 6-10, the U.S. announced it would not be inviting Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the gathering due to these countries’ human rights records. The move prompted the leaders of some Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries to either dispatch lowerlevel officials to attend or skip the meeting altogether.

“Eight nations did not send a top-level official to the most