Beijing, 11 May (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on 10 May that if the Summit of the American States (AMER) held in the United States next month does not invite all American countries, he will be absent from the summit.
U.S. officials have previously said they would not invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, sparking regional discontent. According to the Associated Press, some Latin American leaders have warned of growing calls to boycott the summit.
On the morning of January 10, Mexican President López López attended a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Mexico City. Xinhua News Agency
Warning Not to attend
López said at a regular news conference on the 10th, "If you don't invite all the countries ... I'm not going to go," the Mexican government will send Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrad to the meeting.
Mexico is the second largest economy in Latin America. In recent weeks, López has repeatedly stated that the U.S. government should not exclude any Country in the Americas from the Summit of the Americas.
Brian Nichols, the U.S. State Department's assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, has previously said Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua may not receive invitations.
According to Reuters, Lopez said during a recent visit to Cuba that he hoped Cuba would be invited to the Inter-American Summit. He said it would continue to push the United States to lift the decades-old economic embargo against Cuba. López also criticized the United States for not investing enough in Central American countries, believing that it was the core of solving the problem of a large number of illegal immigrants from Central America to the United States.
The Summit of the Americas, which is held every three years and this year is the ninth, is hosted by the United States and is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from June 6 to 10. This is the second time the Summit of the Americas has been hosted by the United States since the inaugural summit was held in Miami in 1994.
This is the White House photographed in Washington, D.C., on January 19. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Shen Ting)
The White House did not say
White House press secretary Jane Psaki did not make a specific statement when asked at a press conference on the 10th which countries were invited to the summit, saying that the US side "has not yet made a final decision."
According to State Department spokesman Ned Price, the White House, as the host of this summit, will decide who to invite, and no formal invitation has been issued yet, but it is estimated that it will be issued "soon".
According to the Associated Press, if López is absent, it is afraid that it will be a blow to the summit, because the meeting will focus on the issue of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. President Joseph Biden in March referred to the U.S. side's desired goal for the Summit of the Americas, which is to sign a regional declaration on immigration. He called for a new framework for the western hemisphere countries to work together to address migration. Such cooperation is crucial for the United States, which is struggling with the large number of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Biden administration intends to end the so-called Title 42-related immigration deportation order implemented on the grounds of epidemic prevention at the end of this month, which may attract more illegal immigrants to the north.
Cuban revolutionary leader Raúl Castro, right, and Díaz-Canel, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of Cuba, participate in the International Labor Day rally and march on May 1 at Revolution Square in Havana. Photo by Zhu Wanjun, Xinhua News Agency
or collective boycott
Several caribbean leaders have agreed that if individual countries are excluded from the June Summit of the Americas, they will collectively boycott it. The leaders also criticized the U.S. intention to invite Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido to the meeting.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Brown said Antigua and Barbuda would not attend if cuba and Venezuela were excluded from the Americas summit. According to him, the consensus to boycott the Summit of the Americas emerged at the March meeting of foreign ministers of Caribbean countries.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonzaves took a similar position, saying in a guest interview on a radio weekend show that if the United States asked Guaido to represent Venezuela instead of inviting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, it would be foolish and that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines would refuse to attend the Summit of the Americas.
Argentina, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, also called this month for the Summit of the Americas not to exclude any country in the Americas.
Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had told aides that he did not intend to attend, but the leader of Latin America's largest economy did not explain why.
Source Xinhua News Agency