Mexico snub casts shadow on Biden's Americas summit
June 7, 2022
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced late on Monday that he would not be attending the US-led Summit of the Americas.
The snub is another blow to President Joe Biden's attempt to reboot Washington's relationships with Latin America.
Meant to be a weeklong showcase of cooperation, in a time when the US is worried about rising Chinese influence, Biden's decision to exclude the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela risks turning into a display of deep divisions.
The White House said it would not invite the three countries because of their "lack of democratic space and the human rights situations."
What did Lopez Obrador say?
"You cannot have a Summit of the Americas if you do not have all the countries of the Americas attending," Lopez Obrador said, complaining of US "hegemony" and "lack of respect for nations."
Although Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will represent Mexico instead, the leftist leader's absence will diminish the impact of a summit where US-Mexico relations are at the heart of major immigration and trade issues.
The Biden administration insisted that there was no bad blood between Washington and Mexico City, insisting that the US was simply sticking up for its principles.
"We do not believe that dictators should be invited," Biden's press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Venezuela slams US 'discrimination'
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is being investigated by the International Criminal Court on allegations of crimes against humanity over rights violations, said Monday that the US decision to exclude three nations' leaders from the summit was "an act of discrimination."
In Havana, the communist Cuban government issued a statement calling its exclusion "anti-democratic and arbitrary."
The Summit of the Americas this week will be the first held by the US since the inaugural meeting in 1994.
The agenda focuses on regional economic and health issues, climate change and migration as President Biden seeks to convince regional players that the US can complete with China's lavish investments in infrastructure projects.
es/fb (AFP, Reuters)