Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexican president, said Monday that he will not attend the Summit of the Americas hosted in Los Angeles by the United States because some of the countries of the region were not invited.
He said, “There can’t be a summit if not all countries are invited.”
A top Biden administration official confirmed that Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba were not invited to this summit to NBC News.
In his place, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will attend, Lopez Obrador said during his daily news conference.
Lopez Obrador demanded all countries attend the meeting for weeks and threatened to boycott it if they weren’t.
Others, such as the Honduran President Xiomara Cruz, have stated that they will not attend if Cuba and Nicaragua aren’t on the guest list.
The Biden administration stated that it didn’t want undemocratic countries included in the summit. All countries of the region signed the Inter-American Democratic Charter in 2001. It stipulates that only democratically elected leaders may attend.
According to the U.S., immigration will be a major topic at the summit. Mexico is a major source of migration. This raises questions about how much regional cooperation can be achieved without Mexico’s president attending the summit.
The ninth Summit of the Americas, which is held every three years in different countries, will be held in Los Angeles June 6-10. This is the first U.S.-hosted summit after the 1994 inaugural event in Miami.
