Last week, the Dominican Republic announced that due to “deep differences of opinion” among states in the Western Hemisphere, it would postpone the Summit of the Americas meeting that it was scheduled to host next month. The gathering will now be held at a future date in 2026.
Since 1994, the Summit of the Americas has served as a high-level forum every few years for leaders from the Western Hemisphere to discuss regional issues. At the end of the meeting, they sign a document with vague promises that are sometimes kept; the first meeting in Miami produced a declaration of an eventual free trade area in the Americas, which remains unfulfilled.
The Dominican Republic’s announcement did not specify the differences of opinion it referred to in its announcement. However, there are likely three reasons the Summit was shelved.