The statements were made in the ‘mañanera’, the daily morning conference of the Mexican president. Other heads of state have joined the position of not attending the event if all the nations in the area are not invited.
“I do not rule out that President (Joe) Biden invites everyone. I was pleased that yesterday at the White House, still, and it is true, it was maintained that the invitations have not been issued,” López Obrador pointed out when referring to the issue of attendance at the Summit of the Americas to be held in June in Los Angeles United States.
And it is that, despite remaining weeks to start, the high-level meeting has made the main information media of the continent waste ink.
Obrador himself warned that he would not attend the event if Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were not invited, three nations already ruled out by the State Department, considering that they “do not respect” democracy.
In the words of the Mexican president, “no one has the right to speak on behalf of all of America and to decide who participates and who does not. We are independent, free, sovereign countries. We are governed not by mandates from hegemonies, from foreign countries.”
‘AMLO’ rules out “retaliation” and “friction” for not attending
“No (there will be retaliation). I have always said that we have received very respectful treatment from President (Joe) Biden.” Thus, the Mexican president ruled out possible contradictions with Washington due to his position of not attending Los Angeles.
“Without me talking about independence and sovereignty, he always mentions that our treatment is based on an equal footing,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador stressed.
‘AMLO’ also considered that the US president “is a good, responsible person and is a Democrat, and knows that everyone’s right to dissent must be respected.”
In this context, the White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, lowered the tone of Washington’s initial speech by stating that “the invitations (to the attending nations) have not yet been issued.”
In a meeting with the accredited media at the US government house and given the insistence of the issue by several journalists on the confirmation if “someone” from the three excluded countries (Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua) would be invited to the summit, Psaki replied that could not “because a final decision has not yet been made.”
Impact of limited assistance
Although the president of the United Mexican States is the most visible voice in calling for full attendance at the Summit of the Americas, he is not the only one who has decided not to attend if the event takes place with limited attendance.
In his most recent tour of Central America, in which he visited nations such as Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba, among others, Obrador discussed the issue with his counterparts, stating that those attending the continental meeting should do “a job of convincing” so that no one would be left out.
“Other presidents had already spoken to me,” he said on Wednesday. “They had already asked me, that they are not happy.” “For example, the one from Bolivia (Luis Arce) had already told me that he does not consider that appropriate, that it was a lack of respect,” said the Mexican head of state.
(Thread) Consistent with the principles and values of the Plurinational State of #BoliviaI reaffirm that a Summit of the Americas that excludes American countries will not be a full Summit of the Americas, and if the exclusion of sister nations persists, I will not participate in it. pic.twitter.com/aicTZxYnWm
– Luis Alberto Arce Catacora (Lucho Arce) (@LuchoXBolivia) May 11, 2022
In this sense, other leaders, mostly from the left, spoke about it. The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, made a call for attention with 12 words. “If all the nations are not here, it is not the Summit of the Americas,” she pointed out.
If we are not all nations, it is not
Summit of the Americas.“The most worthy study of an American is America”#JoséCeciliodelValle
– Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (@XiomaraCastroZ) May 11, 2022
The Caribbean Community (Caricom), which brings together fifteen full members, was also against the possible exclusion of countries in the area. They are smaller nations in the international diplomatic scene, but organized can place dissimilar issues on the agenda of any international meeting.
Another who does not plan to attend is the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro. International media outlets cited “two people familiar with the matter,” who gave no reason why Bolsonaro will not attend.
“The assistance of the president is being studied and it is not confirmed,” said a spokesman for the Brazilian Foreign Ministry.
Relations between Brasilia and Washington cooled down after the victory of the Democrat, Joe Biden, who won the elections against the Republican, Donald Trump, who was seeking his second term. Bolsonaro was even slow to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
Reasons for an exclusion
In an interview for the Colombian network NTN24, the US Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, substantiated his country’s position.
“At a key moment in our hemisphere, we are facing many challenges to democracy” and Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua “do not respect the Democratic Charter of the Americas and therefore I do not expect their presence,” he said.
When asked about Cuba’s assistance, the official was very clear about the position of the administration he represents. “No,” Nichols said. “It is a decision of the president (Biden) but I think it has been very clear that countries that do not respect democracy with their actions will not receive invitations,” he stressed.
Diplomacy with Cuba
This is the setback that is most striking, considering that Cuba participated in the American meeting in Panama in 2015, represented by the then Cuban president and leader of the political process on the Caribbean island together with his brother Fidel, Raúl Castro. .
With a “it was time for me to speak here on behalf of Cuba” he began the first speech of a Cuban leader in these meetings, acknowledging that Obama was an “honest man”, who “admired his humble origins” and underlining that “his way of being obeyed that humble origin”.
For his part, Obama highlighted the “new beginning of relations between the people of the United States and the people of Cuba,” highlighting cultural and humanitarian exchanges, among other aspects. “America will not be a prisoner of the past. More than anything, we look to the future in the policies that will improve the lives of the Cuban people”, highlighted the dignitary.
The first official meeting between the two presidents was held there after the announcement of the start of talks to restore diplomatic relations, broken for more than half a century.
The Cuban government’s treatment of the unprecedented protests that occurred in Cuba in 2021 was described by the United States as a “wave of oppression.” The fact exacerbated the stagnation of ties between the two countries. Havana blamed Washington for being behind the demonstrations.
Despite the return to the White House of the Democratic Party, represented by Obama’s then vice president, the protagonist of the diplomatic thaw with Cuba, relations between Washington and Havana are at an impasse with small steps of relaxation, such as the reopening of the US embassy on the island, after the freezing of its functions by the previous administration and a meeting, at the end of April, between official delegations to discuss migration, a key issue at this Summit of the Americas, at a time when the United States is facing one of the largest waves of undocumented immigrants headed for its borders.
With EFE, Reuters and AFP
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