With global leaders just days from arriving in the City of the Angels for the Summit of Americas, the Washington Post and Al Jazeera report there could be major no-shows by Latin American leaders who warned they wouldn’t attend unless all Western Hemisphere countries were invited.
That pushback came after the Biden Administration decided to exclude antidemocratic leaders from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador may be among those who refuse to trek to Los Angeles for the meetings.
It won’t be the first drama surrounding such meetings. Summits held in Quebec City in 2001 and Mar del Plata, Argentina in 2005 set off large anti-globalization protests and anti-Free Trade Area of the Americas protests — and serious clashes with police.
As the Montreal Gazette reported a month after the Summit in Quebec, the summit drew a diverse crowd of protesters as “anarchists and church groups stood shoulder to shoulder staring down police. They breathed the same clouds of tear gas, got hit with the same plastic bullets, were doused by the same water cannons.”
What we know for sure is that practical problems will impact many thousands of Angelenos. DTLA will be jammed with freeway and road closures, and yes, the summit will even affect the film industry.
The White House has promised some livestreaming for the public, but no details have been released yet. Here’s a rundown of what the Summit is all about, what to expect, where not to drive, and the numerous alternative events you can attend:
The mission of the meeting
Administration officials say the Summit — which President Joe Biden will attend — will focus largely on defending democracy and human rights in the Western Hemisphere as well as addressing irregular migration, climate change and efforts to ensure equitable growth as the region emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The talks, however, have been dogged by controversy for months and the attendee list was still uncertain, mere days before the first sit-down.
U.S. officials have repeatedly said the autocratic governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will not be invited to the talks because of their human rights records. But Mexico and other nations in the region have closer ties to those countries, and have called the invite decision exclusionary.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has threatened to skip the meetings if those invitations aren’t issued, but he may still send an envoy. Unlike Washington, which considers the three autocratic governments as pariahs, Mexico’s leftist leader maintains regular ties with them.
“If all countries are invited, I am going to attend the summit,” López Obrador said. “If not all countries are invited, the government representative Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard is going to attend.”
Biden has weighed inviting a Cuban representative to attend the summit as an observer, a U.S. official who declined to be identified while speaking about sensitive deliberations told the Associated Press. It’s unclear if Cuba would accept the invitation — which would be extended to someone in the foreign ministry, not the foreign minister himself — and whether that would assuage López Obrador’s concerns.
López Obrador’s absence would be a setback for the U.S., hosting the Summit for the first time since 1994. Mexico is a longtime ally, a top U.S. trading partner and Latin America’s second-most populous country.
As of late last week, it was also still uncertain whether Bolivia, Chile and Honduras would attend. One question appears to have been cleared up, however. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has decided to go, according to three top officials from his government.
Though White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the final guest list was still being ironed out, senior administration officials, who declined to be identified while discussing planning for the summit, played down questions over the RSVP list, according to the AP. Although they insisted that the event is an important opportunity for national leaders to meet, they also said López Obrador’s attendance would not undermine U.S. efforts to tackle such issues as migration.
Several events aim to compete with the Summit
From a major alternative summit to be held at LA Trade Tech downtown, to an opening rally for the People’s Summit, to a protest planned near LA Live, to a discussion at UCLA, there’s something for everyone next week:
- Community, progressive, pro-labor and other groups, including CHIRLA, CARECEN and SEIU 721, are teaming up to host an alternative to the Summit of Americas at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, at 400 W. Washington Blvd. (enter on Grand Avenue). It will include music and art, workshops, speakers, debates, panel discussions and performances that highlight the priorities of working and poor people, and to serve as a critique on the U.S.’s impact in the hemisphere. The three-day program is detailed on the event website: https://peoplessummit2022.org/program
- An opening rally dubbed “Migration & Human Rights in the Americas” for the People’s Summit will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8, at the corner of Olympic and Broadway, with a focus on migration and immigration. Angelica Salas, the executive director of CHIRLA, one of the People’s Summit organizers, will also participate as a representative for “civil society” organizations in an official Summit of the America’s event on Tuesday, June 7.
- There will be a series of events as part of the “Anti-Imperialist Summit of the Americas.” They include a panel discussion at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 4 at 4301 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90011, as well as via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83564906380); and poster-making and banner-making, as well as a film and panel talk on “Defending our Americas: Building Resistance to Imperialism and Militarism” from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, at the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, 5278 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019.
- A multi-organization protest at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8 is planned at Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Avenue. Organizers include Union del Barrio, Black Alliance for Peace, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), Socialist Unity Party, American Indian Movement- Southern CA (AIM SoCal) and the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice. More information can be found at the event’s Facebook page and the Black Alliance for Peace website.
- UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations will host its democracy dialogues event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8, to discuss “safeguarding democracy in the Americas and how to strengthen the Inter-American Democratic Charter.” The event features a master class led by Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, followed by a Q&A. More information can be found on the event website and the event’s Facebook page. Register here.
The Summit will affect these freeways and streets
Unless you’re going to an event, steer clear of downtown Los Angeles between the 10 and 101 freeways, and west of the I-110, beginning late Monday night. The Los Angeles Mayor’s Office and Caltrans say the below roadways should be avoided from 10 p.m. on Monday, June 6, through noon on Saturday, June 11:
- EB & WB I-10 connectors to NB I-110;
- NB I-110 exits to Pico Blvd. & 9th, 6th, 4th & 3rd streets;
- SB I-110 exits to 6th St. & Wilshire Blvd.;
- NB & SB on Figueroa Street, from Washington Boulevard to 3rd Street;
- EB & WB on Pico Boulevard, from Union Avenue to Grand Avenue;
- EB & WB on 7th Street, from Bixel Street to Flower Street; and
- EB & WB on Wilshire Boulevard, from Bixel Street to Flower Street.
- Closures and service impact details are here.
Do you have to go to DTLA next week, regardless of all the street closures, security, events and protests? Motorists who must get downtown should take the below exits, authorities say:
- WB on I-10, use exits 16A Santa Fe, 15B Alameda Street, 15A Central Ave, 14B San Pedro Street and 14A Convention Center;
- EB on I-10, use exits Convention Center/Grand Avenue/Olive Street, 14A Maple Avenue, 14B San Pedro Street, 15A Central Avenue, 15B Alameda Street and 16A Santa Fe Avenue;
- NB on I-110, use exits 20B 37th Street and Exposition Boulevard and 20C Adams Boulevard, or change to EB & WB on I-10 or I-101.
Yes, the Summit will affect Hollywood
FilmLA warns the movie industry that because Summit activities are concentrated in DTLA, roughly bounded by the 101 Freeway, 110 Freeway, 10 Freeway and Alameda Street, it is “almost certain that filming requests will not be approved for Downtown during the proceedings.”
According to FilmLA, filming needs such as posted parking, lane closures and full street closures “will specifically not be allowed.”
Moreover, “requests for permits to film elsewhere in the City – owing to high resource demands on LAPD and other departments – could also see slower processing time during the Summit. Filmmakers are encouraged to file applications with FilmLA early, giving more than the usual three to five business days of lead time.”
More info and help from local agencies:
Bicyclists, DASH users, Metro riders and those about to get on a plane can find more information below. Twitter is expected to jam up with details both helpful and dramatic. Here are some online spots to start:
- Unified L.A. (city of Los Angeles): Twitter account @unifiedla and website at http://unifiedla.lacity.org.
- Caltrans District 7 (lane/ramp closures): Twitter accounts @CaltransDist7 and @CaltransHQ.
- Los Angeles Department of Transportation (DASH routes): Twitter accounts @ladotofficial and @ladottransit and website at http://ladottransit.com/whatsnew.
- Metro (buses and trains): Twitter account @metrolaalerts.
- Los Angeles International Airport (airport): Twitter accounts @FlyLAXStats (travel time to and through the central terminal area) and @FlyLAXAirport.
- During the event, people who use Metro’s bike share program may see service interruptions due to the temporary removal of three bike share stations starting Thursday, June 2. The stations will be back June 13.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
.@BikeMetro it is completely unacceptable to remove some of the most-used stations in the system for a week and a half with zero notice. pic.twitter.com/rzJvrCKYHd
— Rabi Abonour (@rabonour) June 2, 2022