President Biden offered his vision for a flourishing democratic Western Hemisphere before dozens of delegations, but he quickly faced pushback from leaders upset that Biden had excluded a trio of authoritarian regimes from the summit.
“There is no reason why the Western Hemisphere can’t be the most forward-looking, most democratic, most prosperous, most peaceful, secure region in the world,” Biden said ahead of a formal gathering of heads of state from North, Central and South America. “We have unlimited potential. We have enormous resources, and a democratic spirit that stands for freedom and opportunity for everybody.”
“I think we are a far cry from what we saw from a previous American administration,” Biden said, outlining joint efforts in health care, migration, climate and jobs. “That’s what our people expect of us,” he said. “It’s our duty to show them the power of democracies to deliver when democracies work together.”
Still, Biden’s affirmation of the virtues of democracy has been sorely tested this week. Ahead of the summit, the White House rolled out new initiatives intended to promote its objectives of the summit, such as a new investment in hundreds of thousands of health-care workers throughout the region and increased cooperation on climate change.The final day of the summit, Friday, is expected to focus on migration challenges, an effort that has been led in the Biden administration by Harris.
And the current furor has erupted at a time when the White House is preparing for a potential Biden visit next month to oil-rich Saudi Arabia as the United States faces soaring gas prices, despite the Saudi crown prince being accused of orchestrating the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi four years ago. Biden had long vowed to make Saudi Arabia a pariah nation, but he faces enormous pressure to increase the world fuel supply and contain rising gas prices.
With Trudeau, Biden admiringly said that the United States has “no better friend in the whole world.” The Canadian prime minister said the two countries are working in tandem to promote democratic ideals and that doing so is “better for citizens, for putting food on the table and putting futures in front of them.”A few hours later, Biden sat down with Bolsonaro, marking the first time the two men have met or even spoken.
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