Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador threatened to boycott the Summit of the Americas next month, saying on Tuesday that his presence will not be confirmed unless the host country, the United States, invites Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
“Participation in the Los Angeles Summit has not yet been resolved because we are proposing that no one is excluded because we seek the unity of all America,” López Obrador said during his daily briefing in Mexico City.
“We feel that there should be no confrontation. Even with the differences, we must dialogue, all Americans, then we are yet to resolve this issue; we have a very good relationship with the government of President Biden. We want everyone to be invited. That’s the position of Mexico,” he added.
Officials from the United States have stated repeatedly that the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela will not be invited to the summit owing to their human rights records.
As host country, the United States has the privilege of inviting leaders to the summit.
However, the White House stated on Tuesday that no decisions had been made in response to López Obrador’s remarks
“We haven’t made a decision about who will be invited, and no invitations have been issued yet,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
If López Obrador declines Mexico’s invitation to the summit, which is set to take place in June, it will be a significant snub to the White House and, in particular, US President Joe Biden’s administration, which has tried to use the summit to strengthen Latin America’s ties with the US amid increased Chinese interaction in the region.
After returning home from a trip of Central America and Cuba, where he met Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and former President Raul Castro, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto stated. López Obrador said in Cuba that he would stress to Biden that no country from the Americas be excluded from the summit.
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