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Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez praised the controversy surrounding the upcoming Summit of the Americas, saying that dictatorships should be unpleasant, while chaos continues to revolve around the planning of the Biden administration forum.
The 9th Summit of the Americas will be held in Los Angeles, California, starting Monday. The conference, which began in 1994, brings together countries in the Western Hemisphere within the Organization of American States and focuses on promoting values in favor of democracy and coordination between heads of state and government. the leading companies with influence in the region.
Fox News spoke with President Duque about the upcoming summit during an exclusive interview on Thursday, and the leader was adamant that only the participation of democratic regimes should be allowed.
“All members of the Organization of American States, we all stand for democracy. And if you want to be a member of the organization, you have to stand for democracy. So I clearly believe that the Summit of the Americas will not be an instrument of “Democrats to participate in trying to gain diplomatic legitimacy. I don’t think any dictatorship will participate in the Summit of the Americas,” he told Fox News.
The President of Colombia, Ivan Duque Márquez, addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, at the UN headquarters, on Wednesday, September 26, 2018. (Photo AP / Richard Drew)
The controversy surrounding this year’s summit has grown because the Biden administration has not yet published a definitive list of countries that have been invited or a final agenda. In addition, protests by Latin American immigrants are expected outside the event to protest autocratic leadership in some countries, such as Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and others.
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In addition, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has not yet said whether he will attend, has threatened to boycott the event if Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela do not receive invitations.
In response to a question about President Lopez saying that the forum should be open to everyone, Duque disagrees.
“I will not get into a dispute with President López Obrador, I have a good relationship with him. But maybe if we do not agree, I respectfully disagree because I think this forum is not a forum for dictatorships to participate. It is clear the value of democracy that has united the hemisphere, “Duque told Fox News.
“The Inter-American Democratic Charter, signed on September 11, 2001, is the great achievement in diplomatic terms where we have rejected any form of autocracy in the hemisphere. Therefore, this was not a forum of autocrats. It is a forum for people who clearly accept the value of democracy. “
The Colombian president plans to focus on three major issues during the summit: migration, solutions to climate change, and economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Duque announced a recent immigration milestone during an interview with Fox News, saying that Colombia has granted one million temporary protection status cards to Venezuelans entering the country. The President also highlighted Colombia’s opportunity to pave the way for a solution to climate change.
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“I think there needs to be an economic recovery in the post-pandemic world. The US can bring in a lot of assets from its companies that were in Asia in order to be close to the US market but at the same time open up job opportunities for a lot of people. “I think this will be a deterrent to further migration to the southern border of the United States.”
Sergio de la Peña, a former undersecretary of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs at the Pentagon and a retired U.S. Army official, told Fox News that he agrees with Duke that the forum should only give the welcome to democracies, and Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela do not fit in with that. criteria.
The summit is generally about “security and prosperity” as fundamental principles, said de la Peña, and has been designed “to be an opportunity for the management of this whole hemisphere to meet to discuss issues of mutual interest.” “.
He said it was “the prerogative of the host” to make invitations to world leaders, but that in general it would have been appropriate for the invitations to have been sent at least three months earlier to the heads of state. He also said that it was not useful for the Biden administration not to have published an agenda and that they should have set some expectations for the results ahead of the summit.
The former defense official said that while it is the role of the host country to mark the message of the forum, “strengthening democracy is huge.”
“If you’ve seen how the alignment of the hemisphere countries has been taken lately, they’re going to the left and in some cases they’re worrying,” he said, citing Bolivia and Chile as examples of states that they follow a “model.” it is no different in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. “
De La Peña continued: “I hope that something positive will emerge from the summit. The United States remains the indispensable leader in this hemisphere. And the United States must project a level of leadership confident in the realization of these summits. there must be a feeling that the United States is well under control. “
Isaias Medina, one of the first Venezuelan diplomats to step down in June 2017 to protest the policies of dictator Nicolás Maduro, also told Fox News that the summit’s message must be “deterrence against rogue nations undemocratic. “
Medina told Fox News: “In order not to be welcomed to the summit of the Americas, it must definitely include American oil companies. [that] to continue collaborating with the Narco-Kleptocracy of Maduro. The United States allows Chevron to evade sanctions on a tyrannical dictatorship of gas lighting is no different from giving a blank check to Putin himself to use it against Ukraine because Maduro and Putin have joint accounts wiping the country “.
“The message of the Summit of the Americas should be a clear and unwavering deterrent against rogue anti-democratic nations and their delegated militias, not just in words but in deeds, while Venezuela is stepping up its oil development with the help of Chevron: Hezbollah, ELN, and FARC celebrate as invisible guest at Summit to ask for Maduro criminal union funds to harvest terrorist organizations within three hours of Miami. Putting money in Maduro’s pocket is America’s best interest? ” continued Medina, who also served as a ministerial adviser to the Venezuelan mission to the United Nations in New York.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked this week during the weekly press conference about the final list of invitations and the agenda for the summit, to which she replied that the administration “is still giving our partners time to decide.”
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She continued: “As you can see in the press reports, there have been many heads of state who have confirmed this through their own announcement. But again, you know, I always bring it back because what’s really important. next week, people from all over the region are coming together to address the basic challenges facing people in the hemisphere, including economic prosperity, climate change, the migration crisis and The COVID-19 pandemic, so there are a number of issues for the region that we would like to discuss, these are priorities, these are incredibly important, and this is what you will see next week, and others will confirm. we will not do it until we have a final list and give our partners opportunities to decide. “
The press secretary also said on Wednesday when asked why the White House had not confirmed the details less than a week before the summit began: “I think if you have been following this administration during the “Last year and a half, a week is not the eleventh hour when it comes to how things move. And that’s a life away from us as a White House.”
Fox News also asked the State Department this week if the Biden administration could invite a lower-level representative from Cuba and if there is a plan to avoid a boycott of Mexico.
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State Department spokesman Ned Price responded that the administration is “confident” that it will have strong attendance from Latin American and private sector countries at the forum.
Price said: “We have been in close contact with many of our partners throughout the region. Again, without reading these discussions. We are confident that the summit will represent: countries will be representative of the opportunities and challenges we face. together as partners in America “.
Fox News’ Nicholas Kalman contributed to this report.