So, after the state level interaction and slight hard talk today, the leaders will move next to that dinner reception tonight. Last night they participated in the gala inauguration ceremony. Jules Vasquez looked at the action, and the notable no shows from day one:
Prime Minister John Briceno stood out as the only head of government or state from Central America to attend the summit.
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador's Presidents sent only their Ministers of Foreign Affairs - as did Mexico. Those leaders snubbed the event over Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela not being invited.
But the case is different for Prime Minister Briceno who was duty bound to attend as CARICOM Chairman - where just about every single Prime Minister and Premier attended with the notable exception of St Kitts and Nevis's Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
And while CARICOM wants its place at the table, or the front row, the absence of the Mexican and Central American Presidents is notable because one of the summit's major issue is stemming migration to the US.
But CARICOM has its own critical priorities and they want to make sure those are reflected in the four Political Commitments emanating from the Summit. Those include pandemic recovery, equitable access to climate financing, energy security, food security and the problem of illegal guns entering the region.
They engaged in dialogue with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and hope to get an audience with US President Joe Biden to underscore these issues.
Last night at the inaugural ceremony Biden made a strong pitch for regional partnership:
Joe Biden - President, U.S.A
"And no longer is this a question of what will we do - what will the United States do for the Americas. The question is what we accomplish by working together as true partners with diverse capabilities but equal and mutual respect, recognizing both our individual sovereignty and our shared responsibilities."
And also COVID - the poverty it has induced and the resultant migration flows northwards.
Joe Biden
"Twenty-two million more people fell into poverty in just the first year of the pandemic. Inequity continues to rise. And tonight, I'm announcing a new economic partnership that builds on all the work we have done with the region and will guide our engagement going forward. We're calling it "Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, In the next few days, we'll be rolling out another new initiative created in cooperation with many of your countries. It includes the U.S.-Caribbean partnership to address the climate crisis, which the Vice President Harris will lead for our country."
And, on this night when the propulsive music of the Americas reverberated through the Los Angeles Convention Centre - the myriad problems facing these leaders could have been forgotten for one night at least - as the hosts projected a multi cultural mashup of a shared heritage to a hemisphere more riven by inequity than it was when the first summit was held 28 years ago.
Correction: Ralph Gonsalves is the Prime Minister of St Vincent and The Grenadines. Tomorrow will see day 2 of the Plenary sessions and we'll have continuing coverage of the Summit in our next newscast.
