Getting Latin American leaders into one room is a feat(壮举). Getting them to agree on anything is tougher still. Only one president from the region turned up to the Ibero-American summit, a biennial gathering of leaders from Spain, Portugal and Latin America, when it was held in Ecuador two years ago—and that was the host.(两年前在厄瓜多尔举行伊比利亚美洲峰会时，该地区只有一位总统出席，而且就是东道主。) There are hopes Spain will do better when it holds this year’s pow-wow(聚会、会议), in Madrid, on November 4th and 5th. The organisers are aspiring to get as many as 18 heads of state, or their deputies, to attend.
把拉丁美洲各国领导人聚到同一个房间里已属壮举，让他们在任何事情上达成一致则更难。两年前在厄瓜多尔举行的伊比利亚美洲峰会——西班牙、葡萄牙与拉美领导人每两年一次的聚会——只有一位该地区总统出席，而且就是东道主。人们希望西班牙今年11月4日至5日在马德里主办这一峰会时能做得更好。组织者力争让多达18位国家元首或其副手出席。
The timing is propitious(有利的、吉利的). Donald Trump increasingly treats Latin America as the United States’ backyard. Though a wave of ostensibly Trump-aligned presidents have taken office, the region remains keen to hedge against his unpredictability by diversifying trade.(尽管一批表面上与特朗普结盟的总统已经上台，该地区仍急于通过贸易多元化来对冲他的不可预测性。) Links with China are important, but also problematic. “I’ve never seen more desire for Europe,” says a veteran(资深的、老练的) Latin American diplomat.
时机是有利的。唐纳德·特朗普越来越把拉丁美洲视为美国的后院。尽管一批表面上与特朗普结盟的总统已经上台，该地区仍急于通过贸易多元化来对冲他的不可预测性。与中国的联系很重要，但也问题重重。一位资深的拉美外交官说：“我从未见过对欧洲如此强烈的兴趣。”
Spain has ties to the region that neither of the world’s superpowers can replicate(复制、重现). More than 4m people who were born in Latin America now live in Spain, many having arrived in the past decade. Back in the 1980s and 1990s Spain’s transition to democracy was a model for some of its former colonies. Felipe González, prime minister from 1982 to 1996, became an adviser to governments in the region. In 1991 Spain and Mexico convened the first Ibero-American summit in Guadalajara, laying foundations for a 22-member community loosely inspired by the Commonwealth of once British-ruled countries.(1991年，西班牙和墨西哥在瓜达拉哈拉召开了首届伊比利亚美洲峰会，为一个由22个成员组成的共同体奠定了基础，该共同体大致受到曾由英国统治的国家组成的英联邦的启发。)
西班牙与该地区有着世界两大超级大国都无法复制的纽带。超过400万出生在拉丁美洲的人现在生活在西班牙，其中许多人是在过去十年间到来的。早在20世纪80年代和90年代，西班牙的民主转型就是其一些前殖民地的榜样。1982年至1996年担任首相的费利佩·冈萨雷斯曾担任该地区一些政府的顾问。1991年，西班牙和墨西哥在瓜达拉哈拉召开了首届伊比利亚美洲峰会，为一个由22个成员组成的共同体奠定了基础，该共同体大致受到曾由英国统治的国家组成的英联邦的启发。