The eighth Summit of the Americas was held in Lima, Peru, from April 13–14, 2018. The main focus of the summit was anti-corruption following the outbreak of the Odebrecht scandal, which affected numerous countries in the region, while attention was also put upon the crisis in Venezuela.^[1]

The 2015 Summit of the Americas in Panama was held in a positive atmosphere, largely thanks to Barack Obama's normalization of relations with Cuba, which was welcomed by the rest of the Western Hemisphere as a long-overdue rectification of a Cold War relic, considering that Latin American leaders, especially those in Bolivia and Venezuela, warned at the 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, that the holding the 2015 summit was impossible without Cuba's participation.^[2][3]

However, Donald Trump in June 2017 announced a reinvigorated hardline towards Cuba by banning U.S. business transactions with Cuban companies run by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces and imposing some restrictions on Americans' travel to Cuba (banning Americans from visiting military-run establishments).^[4] He has also imposed economic sanctions against Venezuela, arguing President Nicolas Maduro's disrespect for his country's democratic institutions.^[5]

On February 13, 2018, Peru revoked Venezuela's invitation to the Summit because of Maduro's plan to hold an early presidential election, as the major opposing parties were banned from it.^[6] Maduro insisted that he would attend the summit anyway, but eventually declined from doing so on April 10.^[7] Delsa Solórzano would represent Venezuela in the summit instead. Solórzano is a deputy and the Vice President of A New Era, an opposition political party.^[8] On April 10, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump stated he would not attend the Summit in order to focus on the fallout of the Douma chemical attack. Vice President Mike Pence attended in his place.^[9]