The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, affirmed that he will not attend the Summit of the Americas if the host, the United States, excludes any country from the meeting after the possibility of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela being left out became known. of the encounter.
“If they are excluded, if not everyone is invited, a representation of the Government of Mexico will go, but I would not go, the foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, would represent me”, declared the president during the morning conference from the National Palace. López Obrador indicated that it would be a protest message so that “the same policy does not continue in America”, in turn He affirmed that it is his desire “in fact to assert independence, sovereignty and demonstrate for universal brotherhood.”
Last week, high-ranking US officials pointed out that Washington ruled out inviting the presidents of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the Summit of the Americas that will take place on June 8, 9 and 10 because “they do not respect the Democratic Charter” of the OAS.
López Obrador affirmed that no one has the right to exclude others and ruled out that this affects his relationship with the United States. “We are independent countries and we have a relationship of respect”also insisted that The Summit cannot be conceived without the participation of all the countries of the continent.
“If a country does not want to attend, then that is their right, but how can a summit (is) of the Americas without all the countries of the Americas? Where are the uninvited from? Are they from another continent, from another galaxy, from an unknown planet?ironized the Mexican president.
According to López Obrador there is political groups in the United States “that bet on confrontation and would like to hold the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean hostage”, and gave as an example the blockade of Cuba. “I consider this blockade improper and inhumane -which is highly promoted by Cuban politicians who have a lot of influence in the United States-; it is vile to use a political strategy of this nature for electoral political purposes,” he pointed out.
AMLO assured that he has a very good relationship with the US President Joe Biden. He said that although “he is a good man”, there is still “that hindrance of interventionist politics that has been going on for more than two centuries”.
Fourteen countries that would not go either
López Obrador spoke from Cuba after having met with Central American presidents with whom he addressed the issue of migration and cooperation for development. Together with the Mexican president, the 14 countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) stated that they will not attend the summit if the intention to exclude Havana, Caracas and Managua is maintained.
Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador in Washington, Ronald Sanders, stated that if President Joe Biden excludes these three countries from the Summit, the nations formed in Caricom will not attend the meeting. The diplomat added that “just as if recognizing (the president in charge of Venezuela, Juan) Guaidó, several Caribbean states will not go.
For his part, hehe Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which is under the pro tempore presidency of Argentina, called for overcoming the ideological divisions and asked “to avoid exclusions that prevent all the voices of the hemisphere from dialoguing and being heard.”
The Summit back in the United States
The Summit of the Americas will be held this year at The Angels and will be held in the month of June. It will be centered on defense of democracy and human rights in the western hemisphere, the irregular migration, the climate change and efforts to ensure equitable growth as the region emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The previous meeting was held in Lima (Peru) in 2018. On that occasion, Venezuela was not invited, since the Peruvian government at the time blamed Nicolás Maduro for the political and social crisis in the country.
With the meeting in Los Angeles, the United States once again hosts the regional meeting, something that had not happened since 1994. That year, President Bill Clinton received regional leaders in Miami to press for a major free trade agreement from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. This time, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be among the central issues on the agenda.
So far there have been eight summits: in Miami (1994), Santiago de Chile (1998), Québec (Canada, 2001), Mar del Plata (Argentina, 2005), Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago, 2009), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia , 2012), Panama (2015) and Lima (2018).