ST. PETERSBURG, June 18. /TASS/. Alexander Shchetinin, director of the Foreign Ministry’s Latin American department, on Saturday said the recent Summit of the Americas showed the Monroe Doctrine is no longer working even as the US is taking steps to resurrect it.
"If we look at the practical results [of the summit], then, first of all, the discussion was on very specific, absolutely non-global issues," he told TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. "This is probably no coincidence, because that global reach that used to be characteristic of relations between the United States and Latin American countries, is simply impossible now."
"There is China in the region, there is Russia, there are other countries that are present there," he continued. "And most importantly, the Monroe Doctrine no longer works in the form in which they are trying to revive it. And the Summit of the Americas has showed that clearly."
In an address to the Congress in December 1823, US President James Monroe declared the principles of the country's foreign policy, which became known as the Monroe Doctrine. One of its main provisions was the division of the world’s political space into European and American systems.
Shchetinin also said the summit was held in a truncated format, because, "abusing its rights as organizers", the United States didn’t send invitations to Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and the leaders of El Salvador and Guatemala did not come either.
"The second aspect is that we saw that the agenda and the way the summit was organized were in line with the building of a certain American-centric model in the region," the diplomat said. "This was done both in terms of the agenda, and in terms of the club of invitees, including those from business, the media and non-governmental organizations. The idea that was promoted was that of a certain exclusivity of the region in terms of certain democratic issues and so on."
The Summits of the Americas are meetings of heads of state and government of the countries of the Western Hemisphere, which are held every few years under the auspices of the Organization of American States, which brings together more than 30 nations. This year the forum is organized by the United States. The delegations of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were not invited to the meeting. The leaders of Mexico and a number of other Latin American countries refused to participate in the summit.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum organized by the Roscongress Foundation is running from June 15 to 18. This year’s forum is dubbed ‘New Opportunities in a New World’. The SME Forum, the Creative Business Forum, the Drug Security Forum, the SPIEF Junior Dialogue and SPIEF Sport Week are also going to be part of the SPIEF event. TASS serves as the event’s official photo hosting agency and the information partner.