Subdued Americas summit opens without Trump, Castro

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‍The Summit of the Americas opened in Peru on Friday without three of its biggest drawing cards after Cuban President Raul Castro joined the leaders of the United States and Venezuela in staying at home.

Castro, who was widely expected to show up to bid farewell to regional allies as he prepares to step down as Cuban president next week, chose to send his foreign minister instead.

US Vice President Mike Pence is attending in place of President Donald Trump, who decided to focus on a response to a suspected poison gas attack in Syria that killed at least 60 people last week. His decision to order strikes is overshadowing the meeting of hemispheric leaders.

In underscoring the absence of Venezuela's embattled President Nicolas Maduro, Pence met Venezuelan opposition leaders and announced 16 million US dollars in aid to help migrants from the country who have fled their country’s severe economic crisis.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra opened the subdued summit by decrying widespread corruption and urging regional leaders to join forces in increasing transparency and boosting civil society.

US Vice President Mike Pence, center, speaks with Venezuelan opposition leaders Carlos Vecchio, left, Julio Borges, David Smolansky and Antonio Ledezma during a meeting at the residence of the US ambassador, in Lima, Peru, April 13, 2018. /AP Photo

He said that rather than accept corruption as a deep-seated scourge impossible to eliminate, governments should adopt concrete measures that prevent it from ever taking place.

"We should build a continent where citizens are first," Vizcarra said. "We owe it to them. We owe it to their dreams."

In recent months corruption scandals have toppled the careers of some of Latin America's most prominent politicians. Just one week ago, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva became the first leader in his nation's modern history to be incarcerated as he serves out a 12-year corruption conviction.

'Fight the illness'

In Peru, nearly every president in the nation's last two decades has been accused of corruption. Vizcarra himself only recently took power after former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned following revelations he'd failed to disclose payments to his private consulting company from Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant at the center of Latin America's biggest graft scandal.

The scandals have sowed deepening mistrust in politicians throughout the region and eroded public faith in democratic institutions.

Organization of American States secretary general Luis Almagro told delegates in Lima that the plague of corruption is not symptomatic of a flaw within democratic governance, and that nations should "fight the illness, not the system."

Pence is expected to use the trip to promote trade and urge regional partners to further isolate Venezuela's government.

A dozen countries in the region have already been turning up the pressure on Maduro, and are expected to back a statement on the sidelines of the summit condemning the widely criticized May 20 election.

Top photo: Leaders arriving in Peru for the Summit of the Americas. /Andina Peruvian Govt Photo

Source(s): AP ,Reuters