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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Summit of the Americas Preview
HEADLINE: Summit of the Americas to Tackle Regional Problems Despite Absentees
TEASER: Summit host United States has not invited Cuba, Nicaragua or Venezuela, prompting several nations, including Mexico, to threaten a boycott
PUBLISHED AT: 6/3/2022 at
BYLINE: Mike O’Sullivan
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Los Angeles
VIDEOGRAPHER: Mike O’Sullivan
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath, Jepsen
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA, AP, AFP,
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT:
VID APPROVED BY:
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRODUCTION )) [[The Summit of the Americas will bring leaders of the Western Hemisphere to Los Angeles June 6-10, but the guest list remains uncertain. Mike O'Sullivan reports that Mexico's president objects to the exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua and has threatened to boycott the meeting.]]
((SHOW AP CLIP OF BILL CLINTON GREETING LEADERS AT 1994 MIAMI SUMMIT))
((NARRATOR))
This is the ninth Summit of the Americas and the first in the United States since the inaugural 1994 meeting in Miami, hosted by then-President Bill Clinton.
((SHOW AP CLIPS OF PENCE AT 2018 LIMA SUMMIT))
President Donald Trump was the first U.S. leader to skip the meeting, sending his vice president, Mike Pence, instead in 2018.
((SHOW AFP CLIP OF CUBAN PRESIDENT, AP CLIP OF VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT, BOTH AT “ALBA” MEETING))
Cuba and Venezuela, along with Nicaragua, were not invited to this year’s summit. U.S. officials say this is a meeting of the region’s democratic nations.
((SHOW AP, AFP CLIPS OF MIGRANTS, VOA MIGRANT SHOTS))
Among issues the leaders will address: a migrant crisis that has threatened to overwhelm the southern U.S. border.
A former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela says the United States is not the only country affected.
((For Radio: Patrick Duddy, director of Duke University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, spoke to VOA via Skype.))
((Patrick Duddy, Duke University))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“Colombia, for instance, is dealing with much the same thing in relative terms with the Venezuelan refugee population. Costa Rica is dealing with Nicaraguan refugees. Haitians are moving in any number of different directions.”
((SHOW US CAPITOL))
((NARRATOR))
Another analyst says the United States has not given the region the attention it deserves.
((For Radio: Chris Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House in London, via Skype))
((Chris Sabatini, Chatham House))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“For example, right now, more than a third of the ambassadorial positions in the Western Hemisphere are left unfilled. Some of them don’t have candidates nominated for them. Some of them haven’t been confirmed in the U.S. Senate, thanks to a small group of U.S. senators who refuse to move them.”
((SHOW AP CLIPS OF CHINA DOCKS, CONTAINER SHIPS))
((NARRATOR))
China is becoming a major player in Latin America.
((For radio: Duke University’s Patrick Duddy.))
((Patrick Duddy, Duke University))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“China is now the largest trading partner with Brazil, with Chile, with Peru. It’s the largest creditor for Venezuela.”
((SHOW AFP SHOT OF MEXICAN BANKS, TRUCKS AT CANADIAN BORDER))
((NARRATOR))
But the U.S. and other economies in the region are deeply intertwined, and more than 40 percent of U.S. manufacturing exports go to the nation’s Western Hemisphere neighbors.
((SHOW AFP SHOT OF FACTORY, RESTAURANT AND ISLAND BEACH))
As Latin America and the Caribbean recover from COVID-19 and the worst economic contraction in more than 100 years, the Biden administration needs to make its case at the summit, says analyst Sabatini.
((Chris Sabatini, Chatham House))
((MANDATORY CG: Skype))
“Why democracy and participation and pluralism and checks and balances on power is the only way in which these benefits of investment can be attracted and can be shared more broadly.”
((SHOW AP CLIP OF BILL CLINTON, LATIN AMERICAN LEADERS AT 1994 SUMMIT SIGNING CEREMONY))
((NARRATOR))
Promoting a vision, he says, like that of the first Summit of the Americas in 1994.
Mike O’Sullivan, VOA News, Los Angeles.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJune 3, 2022 22:52 EDT
BylineMike O’Sullivan
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
