Why shouldn’t Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua attend the US summit?

(CNN Spanish) – The Summit of the United States It begins this Monday in the absence of at least seven presidents from across the continent, including Andres Lopez Obrador from Mexico. He repeated a warning several times In the last weeks: I will not attend unless all the countries of the continent are invited.

“I do not go to the summit because all the nations of the United States have not been invited, and I believe that the policy imposed for centuries must be changed. Exclusion, wanting to dominate for no reason, without respecting the sovereignty of nations, is the freedom of every nation,” the president said. Foreign Minister Marcelo Abbott announced that he would be represented.

The exclusion of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba from the meeting in Los Angeles at the center of the debate was the ninth in the US summit and the second in the United States since the summit began in the 1990s.

The United States confirms its denial

U.S. officials have repeatedly said that the authoritarian governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will not be invited to the summit because of their achievements against human rights.

The issue reached the Senate, where summit co-ordinator Kevin O’Reilly confirmed days ago that Nicolas Maduro would not be invited. “No, we do not recognize them as a legitimate government.” He was responding to a Republican question.

Until now, however, the Biden administration has refused to provide an official list of calls as it tries to resolve the threats. The confirmation is official this Monday.

“The United States continues to make reservations about the democratic deprivation and human rights situation in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. As a result, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will not be invited to attend the summit,” a senior official said. In a statement to CNN from the administration, he noted that the country has “broad preference over calls”.

“NGO delegates from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are registered to attend the three partner forums,” the official said.

Denial by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Connell has already confirmed that he will not attend, highlighting the efforts of some of the region’s presidents who have “spoken out against exclusions”, including Lopez Obrador. That everyone will be invited.

“It is well known that the US government considered from the outset that the US summit would not be inclusive. Despite strong regional demands for an end to the exemptions, its aim was to exclude many countries, including Cuba. Dias-Colonel said.

The news that Maduro will not be there came through a similar channel. “We have a clear path in Venezuela: unity, content, diversity, democracy and the right to create our own destiny. We reject demands at the US summit that exclude people and discriminate,” he wrote on Twitter.

Daniel Ortega, from Nicaragua, was another who promised he would not attend from the moment the talk of a possible exemption began. “That summit did not elevate anyone … that summit was full of pollution and mud”, He confirmed in a speech that he was not interested.

Which other countries will not attend the US Summit?

Bolivian President Louis Ars was one of those who confirmed that he would not attend after the United States refused to invite him to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Siomara Castro of Honduras took a similar position. “I will attend the summit only if all the countries of the United States are invited without exception,” he wrote on Twitter on June 28.

Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei Had also confirmed that no.

In this case, too, there is another background: the conflict between Guatemala and the United States over the re-election of Attorney General Consul Boras, which the Biden government has strongly criticized.