The Summit of the Americas.

It's when the leaders of all the nations of the Western Hemisphere get together every three to four years and talk shop.

This year's edition is in the United States for the second time ever.

And the summit's going to happen right here in Los Angeles.

President Biden's hosting and he's going to rub elbows with foreign leaders from across the region.

And in this crazy world of ours,

well, there's a lot to talk about.

I'm Gustavo Arellano. You're listening to the Times, Daily News from the LA Times. It's Wednesday,

June 8, 2022. Today, we get into the summit of the Americas,

how it began, what usually happens, and whether the U.S., whose record of imperialism in the

Western Hemisphere is kind of sketch, whether we can broker compromises over issues like

climate change, migration, and the growing economic influence of China.

My L.A. Times colleague Tracy Wilkinson wrote about the summit's history.

Tracy, welcome to the Times.

Thank you.

So for us to understand why this summit is even going on, we have to go all the way back to 1994.

I was a freshman in high school, and that was the first summit.

Bill Clinton was president.

The TV show Friends aired its first episode, which whatever.

I don't care about Friends.

The Simpsons is where it's at.

The Cold War was supposed to be over, and the U.S. was the undisputed ruler of the free world.

...