7th Summit of the Americas
VII Cumbre de las Américas
Family photograph
Host countryPanama
DateApril 10–11, 2015
CitiesPanama City
Follows6th Summit of the Americas
Precedes8th Summit of the Americas

The seventh Summit of the Americas was held at Panama City, Panama, on April 10 – 11, 2015.[1]

Background

The Summits of the Americas are a continuing series of summits bringing together the leaders of the Americas including North America (which includes Central America and the Caribbean) and South America. The function of these summits is to foster discussion of a variety of issues affecting the western hemisphere under the aegis of the Organization of American States. In the early 1990s, what were formerly ad hoc summits came to be institutionalised into a regular "Summits of the Americas" conference programme.[2]

At the 6th Summit of the Americas numerous leaders across the political spectrum said that the next summit must include Cuba. The ALBA states also added that they would boycott a summit without Cuba's presence. A final declaration at the summit was also held up over the issue of Cuba.

Meeting between Raúl Castro and Barack Obama in Panama, April 2015.

Cuban presence at the summit

Cuba, along with the United States, attended the seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama.[3] Given the pledge by ALBA member states to boycott the summit if Cuba was not invited, political controversy brewed as it transpired that Panama's government issued an invitation to the Summit. State Department spokesman Jen Psaki implicitly cautioned that Cuba's attendance of the summit would make a mockery of the spirit of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.[4] For their part, Cuban-American senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio urged Panama to withdraw the invitation for Cuba to attend the summit, insisting that the move could be a slap in the face to the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.[5][6] However, another State Department official hinted that the US would tacitly welcome Cuba's participation in the 2015 Summit of the Americas.[7] Following the announcement on December 17, 2014 of a shift towards normalization of relations with Cuba, the US Government dropped its objections to Cuba's presence while calling for the participation of Cuban civil society groups.[8] Before the summit, the daughter of Oswaldo Payá, Rosa Maria Payá, was detained upon arriving at an airport in Panama; a second activist from Argentina also said they were detained.[9]

The summit had an anti-American tone, according to the Associated Press.[10]

Parallel events

While the Summit of the Americas occurred in Panama, other events were held; one was attended by former American President Bill Clinton, and another was held in Panama City at the Florida International University campus.[11]

Another summit called the Summit of the Peoples (Cumbre de los Pueblos), which was held at University of Panama on April 9–11, 2015 with the participation of trade unions, organizations of farmers, indigenous people, students, human rights activists, environmentalists, and feminists among others. At some parts of this event there also attended President of Bolivia Evo Morales, President of Ecuador Rafael Correa and President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro.[12]

Heads of State and Government

Summary of Leaders
Flag and CountryHead of State / Government
 Antigua and BarbudaPrime Minister Gaston Browne
 ArgentinaPresident Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
 BahamasPrime Minister Perry Christie
 BarbadosPrime Minister Freundel Stuart
 BelizePrime Minister Dean Barrow
 BoliviaPresident Evo Morales
 BrazilPresident Dilma Rousseff
 CanadaPrime Minister Stephen Harper
 ChileChancellor Heraldo Muñoz
 ColombiaPresident Juan Manuel Santos
 Costa RicaPresident Luis Guillermo Solís
 CubaPresident Raúl Castro
 DominicaPrime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit
 Dominican RepublicPresident Danilo Medina
 EcuadorPresident Rafael Correa
 El SalvadorPresident Salvador Sánchez Cerén
 GrenadaPrime Minister Keith Mitchell
 GuatemalaPresident Otto Pérez Molina
 GuyanaPresident Donald Ramotar
 HaitiPresident Michel Joseph Martelly
 HondurasPresident Juan Orlando Hernández
 JamaicaPrime Minister Portia Simpson Miller
 MexicoPresident Enrique Peña Nieto
 NicaraguaPresident Daniel Ortega
 PanamaPresident Juan Carlos Varela
 ParaguayPresident Horacio Cartes
 PeruPresident Ollanta Humala
 Saint Kitts and NevisPrime Minister Timothy Harris
 Saint LuciaPrime Minister Kenny Anthony
 Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesPrime Minister Ralph Gonsalves
 SurinamePresident Dési Bouterse
 Trinidad and TobagoPrime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
 United States of AmericaPresident Barack Obama
 UruguayPresident Tabaré Vázquez
 VenezuelaPresident Nicolás Maduro

References

  1. "The Seventh Summit of the Americas will be held in Panama". Archived from the original on 2014-11-29.
  2. Twaddle, Andrew C. (2002). Health Care Reform Around the World, p. 382.
  3. "Seventh Summit of the Americas". Summit-americas.org. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  4. "Panama foreign minister invites Raul Castro to Americas Summit - World - The Star Online". thestar.com.my. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  5. "Menendez: Cuba attendance undermines Summit of Americas". TheHill. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  6. "Marco Rubio: Summit of the Americas Should Exclude Cuba". Archived from the original on 2014-10-08. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
  7. "U.S. won't object to Cuba's participation in Summit of the Americas, State Department says". Fox News Latino. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  8. "Fact Sheet: Charting a New Course on Cuba", NBC 6 South Florida, December 17, 2014.
  9. Alexander, Harriet (6 April 2015). "Cuban dissident arrested on arrival at Panama's Summit of the Americas". The Telegraph. United Kingdom. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  10. Goodman, Joshua; Orsi, Peter (12 April 2015). "Obama-Castro Meeting Overshadows Anti-US Line at Summit". Associated Press. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  11. Jervis, Rick (9 April 2015). "Cuba protests make waves at Panama summit". USA Today. Gannett. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  12. "Movimientos sociales de AL abren Cumbre de Pueblos en Panamá". huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
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