Havana and Washington intensify their diplomatic pulse on the eve of the Summit of the Americas | international

three weeks from top of the americas At the invitation of US President Joe Biden, Cuba launched a diplomatic offensive against Washington for its possible exclusion from the meeting, as well as against Venezuela and Nicaragua, and the US warns that it should address the claims of heads of state such as Mexico, Honduras or Bolivia, who asked him to reconsider his position and invite everyone else, otherwise they would not attend. The Cuban Parliament considered, last weekend, the US veto an unjustified “new act of aggression by the United States against Cuba”, while President Miguel Diaz-Canel stressed on his Twitter account that “the new era wants the continent. It does not recognize exclusion.” “Instead of being guilty of a politics of hate, the United States should listen to the many in Latin America who invite it to host an all-encompassing summit,” he added.

Washington has not yet issued official invitations to the governments of the countries that will attend the Summit of the Americas, which will be held in Los Angeles between June 6-10. But Various American officials They have already indicated that only democratic countries will be called and that Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela do not meet these criteria.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez stated that the Biden administration should not exclude certain countries, because it is a summit of the Americas and not a summit of Washington. According to Rodriguez, the US government is holding a “limited and exclusive summit” because it is “under pressure from extremist sectors,” and asserts that doing so is against its own interests, because it “excludes Cuba from discussions on issues that, like immigration, occupy an important place in bilateral relations.” and regional“.

In the diplomatic confrontation with Washington, Havana’s positions were strengthened by the position of several leaders in the region, beginning with the Mexicans. Andres Manuel Lopez Obradorwhich expressed its full support for Cuba, and even called for “unity” between the countries of the Americas to avoid exceptions, insisting that Washington reverse its veto policy.

“I still hope there will be a positive response for all of us to participate. López Obrador said last week, after repeating that he would not attend the Summit of the Americas if countries were excluded, although he would send the Secretary of State, Marcelo Ebrard, as Mexico’s representative.

The new President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, spoke in similar terms: “If all the countries were not here, it would not be the Summit of the Americas,” she said, while the Bolivian President, Luis Arce, asserted that “a Summit of the Americas, except for the American countries, would not be the Summit of the entire Americas.” . He added, “If the exclusion of brotherly countries continues, I will not participate in it.”

The government of Chile, Gabriel Borek, expressed a similar position: “The past few years show that exclusion has not led to results with regard to human rights in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba,” said Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Orejola in an interview with the newspaper. third Sunday. Everyone knows what the position of president is [Gabriel Boric] “With regard to the human rights situation in those countries and in my country as well,” added the minister, who was particularly critical of what she saw as violations by the Nicaraguan government, Daniel Ortega. “What we have been insisting on in bilateral talks and what the president wants is to hope that this summit will be as broad as possible,” he added.

Among those who requested the inclusion of all countries in the region in the meeting was Argentine President Alberto Fernandez. “I plan to go, but I asked the organizers the same thing that López Obrador asked of them: to invite all the countries of Latin America,” he said in an interview in Berlin with German DW. In addition, the Twitter account of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations (Celac), which is under the interim presidency of Argentina, asked to transcend “ideological divisions” and “avoid the exceptions that prevent all voices of dialogue in the hemisphere and be heard.”

For their part, the countries that make up CARICOM (Caribbean Community), which initially declared themselves in favor of a boycott if there are opposing countries, are now discussing a common position after receiving pressure from Washington, as confirmed by the Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, the current president of these countries. the organization. “We said we would only attend if everyone was invited, but as everyone knows, Americans are under severe diplomatic pressure to get us to attend,” Briceño said.

The Cuban foreign minister considered that Joe Biden would be “surprising.” Deviates from the policy he himself defended when he was Vice President Barack Obama, finally did not invite Cuba to the ninth summit of the Americas. Al Jazeera had participated in the last two editions of the presidential meeting, the first in 2015, in Panama City, where it was First historical meeting between Obama and then Cuban President Raul Castro; And in April 2018, in Lima, at the invitation of Donald Trump himself, his greatest enemy.

According to Rodriguez, “the host country of the Summit of the Americas has no right to impose arbitrary exceptions,” and if so, “it is a politically motivated decision with no basis other than false accusations and double standards to conceal its true nature, associated with US domestic and electoral politics.” For Havana, excluding Cuba from the upcoming Summit of the Americas would constitute a serious historical setback with regard to previous summits.

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