Heine Discusses Summit of Americas’ (SOA) Fate in Responsible Statecraft Op-ed
Ambassador Jorge Heine took to the Responsible Statecraft to share his thoughts on the Summit of Americas (SOA) forum, which was recently postponed. In an op-ed titled “Death knell for the Summit of the Americas?,” the professor remarked that the premier diplomatic forum, which was to be held in the Dominican Republic this year, is likely to be cancelled due to the current political climate, which can be only described as capricious at best.
“The SOAs, of course, build on the idea of Pan Americanism — the notion that there is something beyond the differences in language, history, and level of development that binds the countries of the Western Hemisphere, or the New World, and makes them different from the tired Old World across the Atlantic,” said Heine.
For presidents and prime ministers of the Americas, the SOA is a consequential event which gives them some face time with the U.S. President, something that’s rare. However, Trump has skipped the SOA in Lima during his first presidency, and it seems that he’ll continue to remain absent for this year’s event too, leaving the Dominican Republic’s leadership in the lurch.
Besides Trump’s indifference toward the SOA stemming from his dislike for multilateralism, the Dominican Republic’s handling of the forum has also been criticized for being exclusionary.
“…the D.R. summit was already on the rocks,” said Heine. “A few weeks ago, the Dominican government announced with great fanfare that it would not invite Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to the summit. This went down like a lead balloon in the region, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum saying that under such circumstances she would not attend and Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticizing the announcement and saying he would not attend either.”
The ambassador concluded that based on the 2022 Los Angeles edition which already appeared to be on its last legs, perhaps it was time for the SOA to gracefully bow out.
Ambassador Heine’s full op-ed can be accessed here.
A former research professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Jorge Heine is a diplomat, international relations scholar, and lawyer. He has served as an ambassador of Chile to China, India, and South Africa. Heine has written over fifteen books, including The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition (2025), which provides insights on how the Global South can navigate the changing diplomatic landscape amid the U.S.-China rivalry.