In just over a week’s time the Summit of the Americas will take place in Lima, Peru. It will likely illustrate just how divided the hemisphere has become.
Since the last such event was held in Panama City in 2015 much has changed. Then, improved hemispheric relations seemed possible. President Obama’s December 2014 decision to pursue détente with Havana and President Castro’s participation in the summit, ended Washington’s growing isolation in the Americas. It demonstrated, at least symbolically, that the US and it neighbours saw themselves as equals in the Americas and marked the high point of hemispheric compromise.
Three years on, the Lima summit will likely be very different. So much so that it may come to define the point in twenty-first century history when irreconcilable divisions emerged in the Americas over US policy, political ideology, trade and trade wars, and the presence of newer actors such as China.