A State Department official says it’s unlikely three governments will be present at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June.
The governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are likely to be excluded from the ninth Summit of the Americas, to be hosted by the United States in June, a senior US State Department official said.
“It is unlikely that they will be there,” US Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols told a small group of reporters on Wednesday, saying the regional leaders’ summit will focus on the democracies of the western hemisphere.
The comments were the clearest message that these three administrations, all of whom have bad relations with Washington, will be snubbed once the White House releases the invitation list. That announcement would be coming soon, Nichols added.
His comments come just days after Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the Biden government of pressuring regional governments to prevent Cuba from attending the summit.
“We have learned from various sources that the United States government has been making intensive efforts and exerting pressure on countries in the region to try to ban Cuba from IX. Rule out Summit of the Americas,” Rodriguez wrote on Twitter.
“There is no justification for excluding Cuba or any other country from this event, which we have attended for the last two editions,” he said.
The US and Cuba last week held their first high-level talks in four years, but tensions between the two nations linger over migration, ongoing American sanctions on the island and the Cuban government’s recent crackdown on opposition protesters.
On Wednesday, Nichols also said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s administration was unlikely to play a role at the summit, but said it was up to the White House to decide whether to invite Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido in his place become.
The US and dozens of other countries have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s rightful leader and shunned Maduro after accusing him of rigging his 2018 re-election.
But last month Maduro said he had agreed on an agenda for future talks with US officials after meeting a delegation from Washington at the first such talks in years.
Meanwhile, relations between Washington and Managua have been particularly strained in recent months after the US described Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s re-election last November as a “sham.”
Ortega has directed a widespread and ongoing crackdown on political opponents and opposition figures before and after last year’s vote, leading to condemnation by US and European officials.
“It is clear that after the sham elections, Nicaragua gave up any semblance of democracy,” Nichols said.
Migration is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion at the ninth America’s Summit as the Biden administration seeks to strengthen regional cooperation to prevent asylum seekers from arriving in large numbers at the US’s southern border with Mexico.
Those numbers are expected to rise soon over the next month as the US plans to end a controversial pandemic policy that had allowed authorities to swiftly expel most people who arrived at the border in search of shelter.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden will speak with his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday to “discuss their vision for the Ninth Summit of the Americas and how North America can lead on priority initiatives for the region.” informed the White House with explanation.
“They also plan to discuss cooperation on migration, joint development efforts in Central America, competitiveness and economic growth, security, energy and economic cooperation.”