The Heat discusses the Summit of the Americas

The Heat

Panama will host the Summit of the Americas on April 10-11. (AP/Ramon Espinosa)

It was mid-December when U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuba’s President Raul Castro surprised the world announcing their intention to normalize relations between the two countries. This week marks Cuba’s coming out of sorts as up to 35 heads of state and government from North, Central and South America gather in Panama for the 7th Summit of the Americas.

Trade, security and migration are on the agenda. They are all against the backdrop of the unscheduled, but widely expected historic meeting between the Cuban and American leaders. CCTV’s Michael Voss reported this story:

The Heat discussed the Summit of the Americas taking place in Panama with four experts.

  • Arturo Sarukhan, the former Mexican Ambassador to the United States and currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
  • Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a leading U.S. center for policy analysis on issues affecting the Western Hemisphere.
  • Alexander Main, a Latin America and Caribbean policy analyst with the Center for Economic and Policy Research
  • Carlos Alzugaray, the Cuban diplomat and educator.

The panel continued.