 Welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. CodePink's weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region. In partnership with Friends of Latin America, Massachusetts Peace Action, and Task Force on the Americas, we broadcast weekly on CodePink YouTube Live. We generally broadcast Wednesday afternoons for 30 p.m. Pacific, 7.30 p.m. Eastern. We have a very special guest joining us this afternoon who has a major trip. She's taking tomorrow. So she graciously gave us 30 minutes of her time today right now. So I want all of you to meet Fiorella Mallorca. With some of you, most of you probably know her from the convo couch. She's going to be joining us in conversation today. Our episode is Voices for an Inclusive Hemisphere. And we're going to be talking about the Biden Summit of the America, the ninth summit of the Americas and the two alternative summits. Two of the alternative summits that Fiorella and I both were able to attend. I do want to remind all of you that we do broadcast on CodePink YouTube Live, but you can also find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Telegram. And now very happy to say you can find us at RadIndyMedia.com. A big shout out to Lee Kamp and Eleanor Goldfield for adding us to their news. So let me just give all of you a quick background as to what we're going to talk about. So some of you may remember a little bit of this was discussed on May 10, and I'll explain to you why. So the White House announced in January 2020, 2022, oh my gosh, that the city of Los Angeles would serve as host of the ninth summit of the Americas on June 6 through 10. As host, the United States selects the site of the summit and its attendees, which became very controversial this year. The United States did not invite Cuba, Venezuela, or Nicaragua to the summit, as these countries are deemed by the United States to have undemocratically elected leaders. It was known the US would not invite these leaders, and the official guest list was not announced until May 30. On May 10, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, the president of Mexico, was the first to announce he would not attend the summit if all nations were not in attendance. And so that's the May 10 episode that I'll share with you the link to that prior episode where we had the honor of talking with Jesus Ramirez from the president's office as to why the president of Mexico decided not to go. So Amla was the first to announce he would not attend the summit, and then he did announce that he would be sending his foreign minister, but he did not go as an equal diplomatic level to the president of the United States. Following Amla's decision not to go, was Guillemar Castro, the president of Honduras, the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, the president of El Salvador, Bukele, the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the president of Guatemala. So eight total did not go. In protest of the non-inclusive summit, counter summits were organized. Viarella and I attended two, the People's Summit for Democracy, which was held in Los Angeles, California, June 8, 9, and 10, and the Worker Summit of the Americas, which was held June 10, 11, 12 in Tijuana, Baja, California, Northe, Mexico. So welcome, Viarella. We've got a lot to talk about. Yes, we do. Thank you for having me. You know, there's so much happening right now. I think this is what happened in this People's Summit and after signals the shift that we have been talking about towards a more multilateral, multi-polar world and the pushback from the, from Latin America that we're seeing that I think it has been happening, as you know, and I know, but I think it was made clear to a lot of people that may not have been aware as to what, what the situation is as to what NATO is as to what the OAS is and how they've influenced politics in Latin America. I think, you know, I think you're right in it. It's really, and I have shared this with our audience before and you and I have talked about this really since, I mean, it was, became very overt to those of us who do a, who work in Latin America, solidarity work, political work, journalism, all of that. The July 24 discourse, July 24, 2021, that the president of Mexico gave here in Mexico City. It was on the 238th anniversary of Simone Bolivar's birth and he laid out what we thought was a wonderful vision for Latin America and the Caribbean and as it turned out in ensuing months that discourse in July of 2021 was very clearly his foreign policy vision for the Americas and we've watched that unfold through several things. The Venezuela Dialogue beginning in August which is installed with the kidnapping of Alec Saab, the reconvening of Salak after a four year pause, which was in September of 2021. And, and then refusing to go to the summit of the Americas once that was announced in June so, or in January. It's been a real articulation of what Latin American leadership and not just the president of Mexico but Latin America leadership and I would argue through the forum of Salak that particular body. The leadership wants a multipolar hemisphere. It's very, very clear. And when, when the president of the United States announced in January of 2022 that the summit of the Americas and this is a summit that is organized through the organization of American states but it's a new idea, relatively new in the history of the OAS was introduced by President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. So this one that just took place was only the ninth and the OAS was founded right after World War two. So, when he announced this, and it became very clear who was not going to be invited. It was a huge, huge statement of the United States to say, we're not inclusive as a nation. It's the summit of the Americas but we get to decide or we, Washington gets to decide who is America. And then for the overt pushback by the president of Mexico, it's been very, very exciting actually to watch this all unfold. The undercurrents are very exciting. Yeah, and I think, you know, the solidarity that we're seeing too in Latin America because even some of the leaders that did go still mentioned, I believe that was Gabriela Boric, even though he did say some things that were extremely negative. He also talked about the exclusion and I think that the fact that people feel leaders of these countries feel compelled that they have to say something now is definitely a shift because before that's not how it was United States would exclude whoever they wanted and there was very little shift but now, and I think the war in between Russia and Ukraine, which is the war between us and Russia essentially in NATO is has allowed for that to happen, as well as China's increasing presence. It like in the East and in terms of that relationships building through the, the, the, the, the economic relationships that are happening in Nicaragua that have happened already in Bolivia. I think that is allowing for for this to happen and everybody's sort of taking this this moment in and speaking out against the the same type of of just dictatorial, frankly, and overtly arrogant policies of the United States and and it feels like a moment to grasp on you know you talk you mentioned Seymour Bolivar over 200 years ago. This was going on and and I think it's one of those moments that we're seeing in Latin America where there is a potential to have a united front and more and more pushback is happening right now we're seeing what's happening in Ecuador against the the current regime that have of course was supported by the West and I think that is also signaling a shift in a country that has also been plagued by you know, unfair elections and just very very bad recent regimes. For our audience fear well is referring to the national a national strike national protests in Ecuador that have really erupted really pretty pretty much today. So if you haven't for the audience if you haven't Googled that news or seen it in your social media streams. It's, it's worth checking out because it's not unlike what erupted in Columbia. May of April of last year, you mentioned some of the presidents attending and wasn't all presidents it was foreign ministers and various dignitaries. The other person that spoke from inside the summit who was the president of Argentina. And this was a, this was really interesting to me and really very important because Mexico and Argentina work very closely together consider themselves the two progressive governments in the Americas with others leaning to the right of them, and to the left of those two countries. And you see on low pushing for change from the outside of the summit and Fernandez when he spoke, opened with talking about the 60 year US blockade on column on Cuba, and the, and the five, seven years now of economic warfare against Venezuela he opened with that from inside the summit. So you've had pressure on the outside and pressure on the inside like you mentioned and that is a unity that I have not seen in my years of activism in Latin America and the Caribbean and I think a lot of that as you said comes from increasing trade with China, it's been there for 20 years growing stronger stronger stronger Russia Iran as well, trade in the hemisphere, but also a unified human humanitarian response with Latin America in the Caribbean. There was no COVID-19 aid from the United States for for most of these countries not to any degree that would have been helpful on a on a societal level. And I think that played an impetus in getting these countries to say Latin American countries to say politics and economics are secondary to our humanitarian needs, and we can gain all of this by uniting together. So there's a humanitarian link involved now in this unity that hasn't been this unified and strong in the past. And I think that it's that humanity that humanity that led to the to the organization of these two alternative summits that you and I attended. The lack of inclusiveness the lack of humanity, basically the White House saying we get to define who and what America is we get to send out the invitations and you know colonialism colonialism there's no other way to say it I don't I don't think. Yeah, it's a new form, it's new colonialism you know I was saying the other day it really the the audacity of the United States to invite Spain and Juan Guaidó who they still consider the interim president even after going to ask Maduro for oil and trying to negotiate with Maduro, thereby recognizing his power and not Juan Guaidó's they're still putting out this this idea that Juan Guaidó is anybody and we know that he's not very well liked Venezuela because we all just saw him get kicked out of a restaurant very comically. By his own followers by his own followers and, and, and there's a shift happening in Venezuela to where a lot of people who are part of the Guaidó government have been sort of trying to work within the current system, the economic wise Venezuela has improved. And so what you're seeing is the Guaidó has become even more relevant so it's absolutely ridiculous to to invite him as if he's anybody but also just the symbolism of, you know, after after that in America decades and decades fighting for freedom from the Spanish monarchy, they sort of had very little of it eventually of course the United States came in and began intervening and pushing regime change and now the United States excludes three very important countries that have been the resistance of, of this this imperialist, you know, a Yankee imperialist boot. And so then, then they invite of course the Spanish crown as if the conquistadors They invite the conquistadors from 500 years ago. Exactly. And that's about assaulting, insulting as they can get regardless of what a nation's political alliances are. That I mean that it's almost unbelievable that a US administration would do that. And just such a strong example of what's, in my opinion, one of the many things wrong in Washington right now. I mean really to think that you've invited the, the conquistadors, the nation of the conquistadors from 500 years ago as part of the Americas. That's just astounding and insulting on a very great, you know, very high level. On a very like level of regardless of what people in South America feel when they are on politics there's that element where I think in those moments, they're, they're, you know, like it was back then during the time this moon believer it's like you're uniting against this power that shouldn't have any, any power over you this. It's just, you know, it's just inherently this need to be a free people this need to be sovereign. And, and that I think is actually backfired and I think you would agree with me this summit backfired for the Biden administration in so many ways. And obviously I think the American people the US citizens are starting to see who their government is ever so slowly, you know, as we say, from within, but I think that more and more these these masks are unveiling each every day. And in terms of, you know, what they're told is the enemy as these immigrants and these Latin Americans coming in. Well, well, why are they coming in what happened with what was the policies that led to this and I, the democracy, the people as a counter to the democracy summit. I think did a really good job of introducing that to people who are previously focused on domestic issues, progressive issues, electoral issues from within the country, whereas in you know when you do the the work that you spoke of the solidarity work the journalism when you travel, you understand how our foreign policy is our domestic policy. Yeah, yeah, it's come home. It's formulated on the same. You know you mentioned sovereignty, and one of the while we're talking about this, the People's Summit for democracy, which was in Los Angeles eight nine 10 of June and the principle that the organizers were international people's assembly code pink. People's forum and party for socialism and liberation but many, many more and I'll share with all of you the website for that summit so you can see all the workshops, all the panels and all the co sponsors about 2000 people attended that summit that alternate summit and it was, it was a weaving of domestic social issues, social movements and us farm policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean and one of the workshops that was, I think it was at the closing workshop, the struggle for sovereignty was the closing workshop. The struggle for sovereignty was really kind of wrapped everything up that that's ultimately what this comes down to this respect for national sovereignty, natural and natural resource sovereignty, as well. And those are themes that played out you and I were at a number of presidential elections throughout the Americas last year. And the, those are themes that played out in every country's electoral cycle, people voted to preserve national sovereignty, natural resource sovereignty and they voted for governments that were offering a an economy for all of the people and that played out, you know, one step to the left of center to revolutionary left it's a spectrum, you know, of solutions, you know, some are just a milder form of capitalism but engaging everyone and some are some solutions are much, much more revolutionary in vision and implementation, but it is about sovereignty. And I really liked at the LA summit the people summit for democracy, how things. It wasn't just Latin America there was this weaving of themes of some of the workshops of focused on rent. How how how to how to form tenant unions and lobby and protest, you know, for rent control and so people can stay in their homes that are reasonable rate, things like that themes and and social movements and what else do I want to say, like, a lot of human rights issues as well that overlap domestically as well as internationally. What was your favorite part of the go ahead I'm sorry. Oh, I mean, I, I really enjoyed that overlap as well because I think that's one of the faults of the progressives in the United States. I will say progressives in the United States is that there is not enough attention paid to foreign policy, especially when it comes to Latin America. One of it I think is the language aspect that there there is just, there's not enough of people with English English speakers with that knowledge out there that get enough of a pool, but that's by design and and that is that is just by by lack of our understanding of the United States where you're not really paid you're not told to pay attention to the rest of the world while the rest of the world has to pay attention to you, either because of the of education or because they're living the consequences of that It was really great seeing the, the weaving and of so many issues including when we had Julian Assange's family come in earlier and talk about the fact that he is a journalist that is being, you know, persecuted by the State Department for exposing war crimes see now these war crimes, of course, are committed in large number by the West and by the United States and these are pushed in on other countries right and the in West Asia, in the global south. And so when you look at things that way, you start seeing the connections between the foreign policy and being able to inform people about said foreign policy and said work crimes and then the money aspect right the money that goes into these wars people did to determine how the billions of dollars the United States is giving to Ukraine. When have they done anything for Latin America besides of course extract resources right that that's one of the themes in Latin America right now it's we have a very Latin American very resource rich nations which they do, but the riches that the wealth does not stay within these nations, it goes out. And so that is a very common theme that has been a part of Latin America for forever. And I think that that is also a way where people can see it they talked about climate change and the Amazon and how all of that is contributing to how all of not just war but the the exploitation by these nations in the West is contributing to that so that that interweaving I think was is very, very good to have because it never really happens in a place where you have this. These two things coming together and I told you as much when we were at the summit I've had you know I've lived in LA for years. I spent time with the activist community in LA with the Bernie people in LA and all of that the progressive movements in LA, but I've also spent time abroad with all of you who do the solidarity work and it was like my two worlds coming together and it was weird to be saying and, but it was good it was needed. Yeah. I agree. I love that intersection. You, you mentioned all the money the US is sending to Ukraine, the President of Mexico said, in response to that during the week of the summit that one drop of that money could help many of the immigration issues in Mexico and Central America, and particularly on the Mexico United States border. And so again, the money's there for, I think he was implying the money is there for Western Europe, and not there for our Spanish speaking brothers and sisters to the south. And I think it was, it wasn't it was a very clever way to win to point all of that out. And it's true, it wouldn't take that much money to solve some of the problems on the border. I should also say, all that money going to Ukraine all that money that our tax, our tax dollars going to the Pentagon, if those of you in the audience are not familiar with it. A lot of what be a Rella and I are talking about can is housed under code pinks cut the campaign, all of those social issues and public infrastructure and education and all of that that could could be possible in the United States if the military budget wasn't so large. So, let's talk about the, about the summit in Tijuana because that took a little different approach. Yeah, this was the worker summit of the Americas and it was principally organized by the platform. Well, let me say it in English for all of you, the platform for the class of workers working class anti imperialist working class. So Paco is the Spanish piece PCO a was principally organized by them with help of Partido Morena. And, and most of the sponsoring organizations were our workers consortiums unions, teachers electricians. It was a really It was a whole nother segment of society but specifically it was organized for those people who were denied entry to the United States and or were not able to obtain visas to go to the summit in Los Angeles so that purpose is really, really important to understand how many people were not able to come not just, you know, heads of state that were not invited by the president of the United States, but average working people as well. And so this was held in Tijuana, a walk, well a bus ride a short bus ride from the border. From the wall which was the concluding event we had a big action at the wall in San Ysidro, Tijuana. It was a, this was a class of people who are workers who are as you and I would identify with as leftist versus progressives and I think at some point we should probably do a whole episode on on how this is because for those of us who spend a lot of time working outside of the United States progressive and leftists are not the same. They are two different points on the revolutionary spectrum. And so they should not and but they're in the states we seem to use them interchangeably, and they're not interchangeable, you know, particularly working in the global south and so I would say what we saw in Tijuana was the left very organized leftist movement and and a reassertion of labor. And it, it was very authentic, and it was very moving and some really great energy with those people and some great ideas. Yeah, I mean it was extremely, you know, from the perspective of the US, it would be considered radical because because of the nature of their politics but also the the very blatant call that you know I just I did for the first time I just hear that at the People's Summit here heard the word sanctions, which I hadn't heard before, you know, in any sort of March, you know and the sanctions end of that but you heard more of that. You know, border wall action that they had on that Sunday where it was just you know and the blockade stopped the sanctions and it was just a sort of very much radical call to talk about US imperialism and what they've done and what needs to happen and here are the solutions to what we want. Here's what needs to happen. And it was it was working people who have worked in agriculture, who have worked in different fields it was workers it wasn't. It was less of the celebrity. And we've talked about this to the celebrity type of activism and you know, some people know what I what I mean especially in LA. But there's I mean, you know, it helps to have name recognition and all of that but we're talking about people who are who we met in Nicaragua like a file still from atc. We're talking about or good friend Fausto Torres. Yes, and who do this sort of work where they they're talking about food sovereignty they're talking about these things that deal with with the hands and just just working in the like in a very different avenue than what we saw in LA and I think it's necessary to have both, because then you get to see the entire spectrum of what is required and they're not always going to coincide and like each other. It's very, I think it's important for us to have seen both and to have talked about both and to have been there and, you know, given out videos and talked about what was said, and had media there to basically cover it and cover, you know, Alex stop and how people have been talking about him and they even mentioned, you know, political prisoners like Maria and Julian Assange as well so it's kind of a came full circle at that point where you saw everybody. Yeah, it was. The energy was really exciting and and some really great ideas and I will share with the audience the website for the worker summit of the Americas as well, so that you can see the final declaration and the workshops. The summit in Tijuana was very, very overtly in support in solidarity with Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Mexico and Mexico for its voice right now in the hemisphere and its leadership. And that was, I think that was so important because those are the three countries that are suffering the strongest economic warfare Cuba for the longest amount of time but very, very strong economic warfare and exclusion on many levels not just being excluded from the invitation list to Biden summit. That was very, I thought it was really, really important to really focus on those three that were from the very start, not going to be included in the ninth summit of the Americas and Los Angeles and I, and I also appreciated how many of the workers came from unions in Mexico and the emphasis on their president's leadership in the hemisphere right now. It was a very, was really powerful. So I have to say that the Venezuelans that I got to meet there were amazing people that have gone through so much in recent years and they just seeing their, their fight in spite of that adversity really was really moving and it was amazing to get to know them and I am so excited to meet so many more of them in the months to come and I, you know, I know you talked about the Venezuelans how much you love them but I, it was so awesome that was the best part of that, that trip is getting to meet some of them, just really wonderful people that know their country that have been facing so much, just so much injustice coming from the West and are still dealing with it. And it was amazing seeing those particular three nations named Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela, the nations that I consider revolutionary ones that are the resistance to Western hegemony and I have nothing but respect and and admiration for. There's still all such beautiful people. They still have their humanity in such a beautiful manner and I, you mentioned the Venezuelans I would be remiss not to give a shout out to my code paint co workers, Michelle Elmer and Leonardo Flores who are also Venezuelans and it's been an honor to work with them and get to know them better and celebrate, you know their country. And yeah, it's but all three countries the Cubans, the Nicaraguans and the Venezuelans very. It's a real testament to them that my say they're beautiful people are beautiful inside and out and that they still have that humanity. Yes, they have that revolutionary spirit to fight and push back against the United States and that that push back began with Simone Bolivar, having it so clearly articulated as a policy. But I really, it's really quite something to be around people who are still really so friendly. I mean, when there's so much not to be friendly about especially to those of us from the United States so. So what else should we talk about I promise you I would keep this episode to a to a tight 30 minutes because you've got big news that you're going to be announcing soon and. Do you want to announce that now or no. Yeah I mean I think most people know at this point you know I'm going to Russia, I'm literally getting on a plane like early tomorrow to go make my track over there it's a couple flights. I will be in Moscow for for a little bit I mean I'll be traveling I'll be able to come out of the country and travel and do the things I need to do but I am going to be doing work for RT there, as well as continue the work that I do independently with Craig pasta. As you guys know him. But yeah and there with the condo couch. Yes, the convo couch. And yeah and then as well as just continue doing the election work right now we have very important elections coming up in the second round in Colombia. Very important election then in Brazil. So, there's a lot happening in Latin America Terry I'm extremely excited for Latin America and the connections between Latin America and the East as well. There's a lot happening so I honestly like this is the time to be in both the the global south and and the East so. You are very very fortunate and you're going to be doing a fantastic job. We have no doubt. You have a lot of fans and we're all rooting for you and we're waiting for your first broadcast from Moscow. So I'll let I'll let you go so you can finish packing and get all your, your things together and we'll look for I hope we can talk to you from Moscow. Of course, yes, really, really great and I, and I so agree with you the connections between the global south which includes Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eurasia, including, you know, northern China and and Russia and this whole emergence of a new paradigm. It's scary the violence associated with it but it's also really, really encouraging the possibilities are enormous and very, you know, it's it's it's a fascinating project that's emerging so it's a wonderful time in spite of everything happening and especially in Africa to that rarely you know the pan African is is a panel, I thought that was great. It does not get talked about enough anywhere, and the pushback that is happening the unity within these nations in the continent of Africa is really another thing that is just adding to this whole thing and then the you know the unity between Africa and Latin America through the the culture of Latin Afro culture to is a whole other thing, and I and that is just amazing to watch amazing to see the solidarity that it's a nations that have been of course, crushed by the Western imperialism and finally getting their chance to have voices and to be heard by more of the Western world. So, very happy to see that happening. So I should just say that you've mentioned the pan Africanism there was a full four person panel discussion with that theme at the People's Summit in Los Angeles with the closing segment by James early who brilliantly weaved the African continent to the Americas and vice versa. And you can find that, I think all of those, all of those panels and workshops were recorded by breakthrough news out of New York and association with the People's Forum and you can find all of the recordings at the Breakthrough News YouTube channel but that was a really, that was a really fascinating talk as well. So, okay, Fiorella, we've seen two fabulous summits counter summits and we're able to also protest. Biden summit so we've had a really busy week, and a very fruitful week of activism and I'm very happy to have spent it with you. And same Terry, it was wonderful to spend some time with you and some of our comrades and really yeah take it all in and now it's time to digest everything I need like a week to digest all this information and put it out there have this like desire to like write about everything that's been happening in the last few months because I haven't stopped since our delegate it feels like I haven't stopped since like last year. And so now I'm just like wow, all of this is happening so fast. So, very glad to have you a part of it and yeah let's let's continue to continue to do the things we need to do. Okay, great. I want to remind our audience you've been watching what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean code pinks weekly YouTube program we broadcast. Generally every Wednesday for 30pm Pacific 730pm Eastern today's been a special broadcast due to Fiorella's time constraints and we're so thankful that she fit us in today. So you can also find us on Spotify, Apple podcast telegram and now at radindymedia.com. You can also find code pink radio on Apple podcast and Spotify and you can listen to code pink radio live every Thursday morning 11am Eastern on WBAI New York City WPFW Washington DC. Thank you everyone we will we'll see you next week and we look forward to talking with Fiorella from Moscow and and deepening those links those eurasians Global South Latin America link so thank you everyone. We'll see you next week.