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.

[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.

A hostage crisis at the Colombian border caused the suspected death of two journalists, and he announced that he would take military action unless the captors proved otherwise within a 12-hours time frame.

[11] Many of the countries present at the summit condemned the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, specifically embattled President Nicolás Maduro, and made statements rejecting the recognition of upcoming presidential elections.

[1] Countries also signed the "Lima Commitment" to agree on methods of combatting corruption in the region, with the proposal to create multi-national mechanisms of cooperation and anti-graft laws.