Democracy summit with leaders of Spain, Brazil, Colombia failed its own test

Andres Oppenheimer

The left-leaning leaders of Brazil, Spain, Colombia, Uruguay and Chile deserve credit for holding a much-needed “summit on democracy” in Santiago this week. But they shot themselves in the foot by signing a final communiqué that is a textbook case of political hypocrisy.

The summit’s final declaration calls for an “active [pro]democracy diplomacy” yet conspicuously omits any mention of the lack of free elections or the systematic repression of dissidents in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

It also cites almost every major threat to democracy except corruption, at a time when two leading participants — the leaders of Spain and Colombia — are at the center of major corruption scandals at home.

The progressive leaders’ summit, held in Chile on July 21, ignored virtually all inconvenient truths. It was like hosting a summit on women’s rights without mentioning Iran, or a forum on world hunger that omits any reference to Sudan.

To be sure, there was — and still is — a need for a summit on democracy. From China to the United States, we are witnessing an ominous wave of democratic backsliding.

President Trump has repeatedly praised, and in some cases pardoned, the violent rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in what amounted to a coup attempt. He has also slashed foreign aid to pro-democracy groups abroad.

His State Department has sent a cable to U.S. diplomats instructing them to refrain from criticizing foreign elections unless that aligns with U.S. interests. Translation: U.S. officials are now expected to ignore right-wing authoritarianism abroad.

Global freedom declined for the 19th consecutive year in 2024, according to Freedom House, an independent watchdog. The group reported that political rights and civil liberties deteriorated in 60 countries last year, while only 34 saw improvements.

But the summit at Chile’s presidential palace was a travesty for several additional reasons.

Participating leaders called for a “common strategy” to combat “disinformation and the challenges posed by digital technologies and artificial intelligence,” and some of them suggested internet regulation to eliminate right-wing extremism. Yet they failed to urge concerted action against state censorship in China, Russia or Cuba.

There’s nothing wrong with discussing the need to regulate the internet to weed out child pornography, racial hatred, calls for violence or deepfakes that are increasingly hard to distinguish from authentic videos. I’m increasingly suspicious of Big Tech’s claims that it opposes regulation to allegedly defend freedom of expression.

But the summit’s demands for “digital democracy” without including references to the banning of independent media websites in leftist dictatorships is ridiculous.

In addition, the summit’s final declaration devoted an entire section to Israel’s invasion of Gaza without mentioning the Hamas terrorist attack that triggered it and ignored Russia’s invasion of Ukraine altogether.

The final statement said, “We make an urgent call for a cease-fire in Gaza” and demanded unrestricted access of humanitarian aid for Palestinians there.

That’s a laudable objective, but the five leaders failed to demand that Hamas release the Israeli hostages still held captive or return the remains of those it murdered.

To her credit, Mexico’s leftist leader, Claudia Sheinbaum, was invited to the meeting but declined the invitation, citing a scheduling conflict. Mexico, which depends on the United States for more than 80% of its exports, cannot afford to provoke Trump at a time when the U.S. president is threatening to impose additional tariffs on countries he deems too cozy with America’s adversaries.

At the end of the summit, Chilean President Gabriel Boric said he has invited — and received acceptances from — the leaders of the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Australia, South Africa and Denmark to expand the dialogue on defending democracy at the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September.

Referring to the just-concluded summit, Boric said, “something important is being born here.” Let’s hope that’s not the case. Unless these meetings are willing to denounce authoritarianism in all its forms — right-wing and leftist alike — they are an exercise of selective outrage that undermines the very spirit of democracy.