(CNN Spanish) — The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced this Monday at a press conference that he will not attend the Summit of the Americas, which takes place in Los Angeles from June 6 to 10, because not all the countries of America were invited. .
In any case, AMLO will meet with Joe Biden at the White House next July, as confirmed by a senior US official.
“About the Summit and to be able to inform the people of Mexico that I am not going to attend, it will represent me and that of the government, Marcelo Ebrard. And I am not going to the Summit because not all the countries of America are invited and I believe in the need to change the policy that has been imposed for centuries. Exclusion, wanting to dominate for no reason, not respecting the sovereignty of countries, the independence of each country,” the president said.
In his traditional Morning, AMLO said that he plans to visit President Joe Biden at the White House in July, something that was confirmed from Washington.
AMLO indicated that “I want to discuss with him the issue of the integration of all of America” and also issues such as inflation and immigration reform.
The official who confirmed the meeting between Biden and AMLO in July did not specify the date.
López Obrador also confirmed that on Thursday and Friday of this week he will be visiting communities in the state of Oaxaca that were affected by Hurricane Agatha.
Last month, López Obrador said that Mexico’s participation would not be confirmed until the US invited all the countries of the hemisphere, arguing that no country should be excluded from the Summit.
US officials have repeatedly said that the autocratic governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will not be invited to the Summit because of their record against human rights. But Mexico and other nations in the region have closer ties to those countries and have called the decision exclusionary.
The ebb and flow of Summit attendance are signs of changing dynamics in the Western Hemisphere, as some countries distance themselves from the United States.
Former Senator Christopher Dodd, who is serving as special adviser to the Summit, previously traveled to South America and met with officials from Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Following Dodd’s visit, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry confirmed that President Jair Bolsonaro would attend and plans to hold his first bilateral meetings with Biden.
Relations between the United States and Brazil have been tense since former President Donald Trump, a political ally of Bolsonaro, failed in his bid for re-election. The Brazilian president was one of the last world leaders to congratulate Biden following the 2020 US election and is publicly critical of US pressure to curb rising deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon.
He was initially skeptical about traveling to Los Angeles for the Summit and has complained that Biden ignored him when they met at the G20 last year. But he agreed to attend when he was assured that he would not limit himself to one photo.
Dodd had similar talks with other leaders in the region, including lengthy talks with López Obrador, but apparently failed to get a commitment from the Mexican leader to attend.
The United States makes it official that Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are not invited to the Summit of the Americas
The United States has officially decided not to invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the Summit of the Americas to be held this week in Los Angeles, according to a senior government official.
“The United States continues to maintain reservations about the lack of democratic space and the human rights situation in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. As a result, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will not be invited to participate in this Summit,” a senior government official said in a statement to CNN, noting that the US has “broad discretion over invitations” as the host country.
The US had indicated those countries would not be invited, but the Biden administration had refused to provide an official guest list as it scrambled to respond to boycott threats from a group of countries led by Mexico over the exclusion of those countries. The official declined to comment directly on López Obrador’s decision not to attend.
The official noted that “in recent weeks, US officials have engaged in broad and frank discussions with the governments of the region on the issue of inviting Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.”
The official also noted that “non-governmental representatives from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are registered to participate in the three stakeholder forums.”
“The Summit will bring together thousands of people to focus on some of the most important shared challenges and opportunities facing our hemisphere. We look forward to the opportunity to celebrate these ties and come together to address these challenges as a region,” the official said.