WASHINGTON / MEXICO CITY, June 6 (Reuters) – The White House on Monday excluded Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from this week’s U.S. summit, prompting the Mexican president to comply with the threat of skipping the event because not all countries in the western hemisphere were invited.
The boycott of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and other leaders could diminish the relevance of the Los Angeles summit, where the United States seeks to address regional economic and migration challenges. Democratic President Joe Biden hopes to repair damaged Latin American relations under his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, reaffirm U.S. influence, and counter China’s incursions.
The decision to eliminate Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua followed weeks of intense deliberations and was due to human rights concerns and a lack of democracy in the three nations, a senior US official said.
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U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration “understands” Mexico’s position, but “one of the key elements of this summit is democratic governance, and these countries are not exemplary. , to put it mildly. “
Biden’s aides have taken into account pressure from Republicans and some fellow Democrats against appearing lenient with Latin America’s top three left-wing antagonists. Miami’s large Cuban-American community, which favored Trump’s tough policies toward Cuba and Venezuela, is seen as a major voting bloc in Florida in the November election that will decide control of the U.S. Congress, which is now in hands of the Democrats.
Lopez Obrador told reporters that his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, would attend the summit instead. The Mexican president said he would meet with Biden in Washington next month, which was confirmed by the White House. Read more
“There can be no Summit of the Americas without the participation of all the countries of the American continent,” said López Obrador.
Lopez Obrador’s absence from the meeting, which Biden is due to open on Wednesday, raises questions about talks at the summit aimed at curbing migration at the southern U.S. border, a priority for Biden, and could be a diplomatic embarrassment. for the United States.
A caravan of several thousand migrants, many from Venezuela, left southern Mexico early Monday with the goal of arriving in the United States. Read more
But a senior administration official insisted that the failure to present López Obrador would not prevent Biden from deploying a regional migration initiative. The White House expects at least 23 heads of state and government, which the official said would be in line with past summits.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat and chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the Mexican president, saying his “decision to be with dictators and despots” would hurt U.S.-Mexico relations.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro shakes hands with his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel during the ALBA group meeting in Havana, Cuba, on May 27, 2022. Miraflores Palace / Brochure via REUTERS
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CRITICAL CUBA
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist and admirer of Trump who leads Latin America’s most populous country, will attend after initially flirting with staying away. Read more
The exclusion of Venezuela and Nicaragua had been marked in recent weeks. Communist-ruled President Miguel Diaz-Canel of Cuba said last month that he would not attend even though he was invited, and accused the United States of “brutal pressure” on the summit not to be inclusive.
On Monday, Cuba described the decision as “discriminatory and unacceptable” and said the United States underestimated support for the region in the island nation.
The United States invited some Cuban civil society activists to attend, but several told social media that Cuban state security had blocked their trip to Los Angeles. Read more
Following the dismissal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the Biden administration expects representatives of opposition leader Juan Guaido to attend, Price said. He declined to say whether his participation would be face-to-face or virtual.
A senior administration official, when asked if Biden could have a call with Guaido during the summit, said there was a good chance of a “compromise”, but declined to give further details.
Washington recognizes Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president, after condemning Maduro’s re-election in 2018 as a farce. But some countries in the region have stayed with Maduro.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla who won a fourth consecutive term in November after imprisoning his rivals, is also banned from the summit.
Most leaders have indicated they will attend, but rejection by left-wing governments suggests that many in Latin America are no longer willing to follow Washington’s example as in the past.
Faced with low expectations of summit achievements, U.S. officials began previewing Biden’s upcoming initiatives. These include an “American partnership” for pandemic recovery, which would involve supply chain investment and strengthening, reform of the Inter-American Development Bank, and a $ 300 million commitment to regional food security. .
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Report by Matt Spetalnick in Washington and Dave Graham in Mexico City; Additional reports by Humeyra Pamuk, Eric Beech and Patricia Zengerle in Washington, Kylie Madry and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City, Jose Torres in Tapachula and Dave Sherwood in Havana; Written by Ted Hesson; Editing by Grant McCool, Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler
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