The Summits of the Americas (SOA) is a series of international summit meetings bringing together the leaders of countries in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean; however, no representative from Cuba has participated. The meetings provide an opportunity for discussions about a variety of issues and topics.
The summits have been organized by a number of multilateral bodies led by the Organization of American States.
In the early 1990s, what were formerly ad hoc summits came to be institutionalized into a regular "Summit of the Americas" based on the principles of democracy and free trade.
- December 9–11, 1994 -- 1st Summit of the Americas at Miami in the United States.
- December 7–8, 1996 -- Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development at Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia.
- April 18–19, 1998 -- 2nd Summit of the Americas at Santiago in Chile.
- April 20–22, 2001 -- 3rd Summit of the Americas, in Quebec City, Canada.
- January 12–13, 2004 -- Monterrey Special Summit of the Americas at Monterrey in Mexico.
- November 4–5, 2005 -- 4th Summit of the Americas at Mar del Plata in Argentina.
- April 17–19, 2009 -- 5th Summit of the Americas at Port-of-Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.
- April 14–15, 2012 -- 6th Summit of the Americas at Cartagena in Colombia.
- 2015 -- 7th Summit of the Americas in Panama.
- 2018 -- 8th Summit of the Americas in Suriname.
The summits that garnered most general public and media attention were the Quebec City and Mar del Plata events, both of which provoked very large anti-globalization and anti–Free Trade Area of the Americas protests and attendant police response.
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