WASHINGTON — As the high-profile Summit of the Americas got under way Monday in Los Angeles, with presidents and prime ministers from throughout the Western Hemisphere expected to attend, confusion continued to surround the agenda, what President Joe Biden hopes to achieve and whether U.S.-Latin American relations will be better or worse as a result.
Even veteran Latin American specialists who have attended several of the regional conferences over the past three decades were exasperated, noting that the Biden administration only belatedly turned to the summit and potential agenda, along with its opportunity for progress and brighter relations in the hemisphere.
Some suggested the summit was so behind the ball in planning that it would have been better to cancel than to conduct the conference in a half-baked way.
