6/10/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

Have you had a chance to chat with Mia Amor Mottley, PM of Barbados? As I told you yesterday, she’s THE person you need to be listening to. Of course, you should listen to everyone, but folks like Jair Bolsonaro (JB) tend to stretch the truth. My sense is MAM tells it like it is.

I am so DISAPPOINTED that she is one of only a few women at the Summit. I know it’s not under your control, but I am tired of seeing so much testosterone at these gatherings! The Latinx culture tends to have problems with machismo – are you noticing that?

Thank you for adding your words of encouragement to those of the NYT & the G asking JB to send his people out to look for Dom Phillips & Bruno Pereira in the Amazon. Their disappearance is a chilling example to journalists & environmentalists that they risk their lives when they speak out & act up. I am reminded of Danny Fenster who spent 176 days in prison in Burma because he worked for a banned media outlet. Please continue to pressure JB on this issue.

I am excited to see that the Summit will yield a migration pact which rewards countries like Costa Rica & Colombia for receiving so many refugees. It’s too bad that’s not getting more press.

It’s also too bad that the WP is calling the Summit a “dud.”  Ishaan Tharoor points out that the US is having trouble competing with China in the hemisphere. Not only are they “hoovering up natural resources” & building stadiums, bridges, etc, they are providing armaments to South American militaries.

Please see if you can entice our neighbors to stop arming themselves. Point out that Costa Rica is thriving without an army & they might enjoy the same prosperity if they got rid of their armies, too. We could cut back on our military expenditures, too. Repeat after me, WINTA!

            BYBS,