Thirty-two years ago, when the first Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government was launched in Guadalajara (Mexico), the goal was to ensure that all member countries achieved full democracy. Yesterday, the King, in his words before the plenary of the summit held in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), defended that, after three decades, it can be said that the summit has been “an initiative of success” that has obtained “significant results that must be maintained”.
Not all the countries that make up the Ibero-American community (19 in America, in addition to Spain, Portugal and Andorra) would pass the democratic loose cotton test, which is why the King appealed to unity “in the defense of values ??and principles such as democracy, the rule of law, human rights, fundamental freedoms, social justice and multilateralism”.
The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, who followed the King in his turn to speak, pledged that Spain will take advantage of the six-month EU presidency to defend the interests of Latin America. “The thread that unites us is less and less invisible”, said the president, and then claimed that “Latin America must make its voice heard in the world”.
Before Sánchez began to speak, the King placed the Spanish flag next to the president so that it could be seen on television. At the beginning of his speech, the Prime Minister asked the Ibero-American leaders to “look beyond” the borders of their countries after firmly denouncing Russia’s “war of aggression” in Ukraine.
The King, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, participated in the plenary session of the summit, which is being held in the Dominican Republic for the second time in three decades. With an annual character until 2014, the meeting is now held every two years and although it remains the most important forum in Latin America and the countries of the Iberian Peninsula, the forum has been losing momentum in terms of major political statements despite which has gained in effectiveness with the creation of side commissions that in the period between summits work on the issues agreed in plenary.
There is also no full attendance of the leaders of the 22 countries convened, as happened at the first summits where even Fidel Castro was not absent. Eleven Heads of State, two Governments and several Ministers of Foreign Affairs were present in the Dominican capital these days.
The most notable absence was that of the president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, due to the coincidence of the summit with an official trip to China, which was ultimately suspended due to the president’s indisposition. After the insolences of Jair Bolsonaro, the organization of the summit relied on the presence of a heavyweight like Lula da Silva. Nor has Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, the other great Latin American power, participated. The next summit will be held in Ecuador in 2025.
