The largest meeting of the leaders of the countries of the region “Summit of the Americas” (in Spanish – Cumbre de las Américas) was opened in the evening of the 13th of April in the Peruvian capital Lima. The main plenary session of the eighth American forum, which usually meets once every three years, was held on Saturday on the 14th of April. This year, the main issues of the meeting were related to corruption, and the theme of the summit was identified under the auspices of two slogans: “Democratic government against corruption” and “Corruption and sustainable development”. What was the outcome of the “Summit of the Americas” this time? How will its results affect the development of the region in the coming years?
This time at the summit, several presidents did not come. The current US President Donald Trump refused to visit Peru in a few weeks (instead of him, the US leadership was represented by the Vice President Mike Pence), the head of the State Council of Cuba Raúl Castro (he was replaced by the head of the Foreign Ministry of the Island of Freedom), the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala and Paraguay who also sent their representatives. It is worth noting that the leader of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and this time was deprived of the right to participate in the decision of the Government of Peru. On the eve of the meeting on the 12th of April, in his turn, Maduro stated that he would not participate in the “Summit of the Americas”, citing the fact that it was “a waste of time” for him.
On the 12th of April the Ecuadorian leader Lenín Moreno was also forced to suspend his visit to Peru and return urgently to Ecuador because of the situation with the journalists abducted earlier. Immediately after his return, on the 13th of April, Moreno confirmed that two employees of the newspaper “Comercio” and their driver were killed in the Mataje region on the Ecuadorian border with Colombia. Later, the Oliver Sinisterra Front of the “Revolutionary Armed Forces” of Colombia (FARC), which are currently operating in Ecuador, distributed a communiqué in which he noted that the abducted journalists were killed in the operation carried out by the Colombian army in the region. Lenín Moreno said in his official statement that he decided to return immediately to Ecuador because of the critical situation that the Ecuadorian people are enduring these days.
During the meetings and discussions, the leaders of the American countries have repeatedly promised to strengthen state democratic governance, strive for greater transparency and truthfulness in obtaining and disseminating information, protecting the rights of witnesses and people. The main joint decision of the meeting was the prevention of corruption in regional social and economic projects, contracts and purchases, strengthening of international legal cooperation and responsibility, combating bribery and organized crime at all levels of governments, strengthening the formation of an anti-corruption mechanism in America, and implementing all the documents that were been adopted during the summit. During the closing session, the representatives of all countries adopted the final document “Lima commitment”, which emphasized that preventing corruption is a key component for strengthening democracy, public confidence and state development in various fields.
However, the main result of the “Summit of the Americas” this year was the adoption of the joint regional outcome document “Lima commitment”. Through this document, participants rely on the common efforts of all countries in the Americas to implement specific anti-corruption measures in order to ensure a stable socio-economic development of the region. Nevertheless, whether the American states will be able to defeat corruption scandals and step up to joint measures will be shown not only by the upcoming electoral “super marathon” in Latin America, but also by two regional summits of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).