The presence of a Cuban government delegation at the next Summit of the Americas, which begins next Monday in Los Angeles, California, is still unknown.
From the White House, they have already confirmed that there will be no representative of the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan ruling parties, although they have left the door open for Cuban officials to travel to the North American country and attend this meeting at the highest diplomatic level.
“We’re still making final deliberations, but I think we’ll report publicly on the list of formal invitations,” said Juan González, White House director of hemispheric affairs for the National Security Council. “We didn’t focus on who gets invited and who doesn’t.”
With that in mind, González avoided any controversy on the matter, affirming that the main goal for the Joe Biden-led administration was to lay the groundwork with other countries to move beyond the guest list to “a more inclusive and prosperous future for the whole region.” Looking for”. Countries.
“We have not focused so much on who is invited and who is not, but on the results we want to achieve at this summit,” he stressed.
Mexico has pushed for Cuba’s presence
The possibility that Cuba will actually be present at this summit gains strength after it was revealed that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who paid an official visit to Havana in May, has pressured the White House to To take a step and finally give in the green light so the island can sit around a table with other dignitaries.
“I won’t go into details, but what I can say is that we have had very respectful talks with Mexico,” González said, confirming that “the President of Mexico has asked that Cuba attend the summit.”
The Agenda of the America Summit
On the other hand, the senior US official pointed out that the agenda of this America’s summit will focus on issues such as “economic prosperity, climate change, the migration crisis and the pandemic.”
“President [Biden] has always said that his political goal is progress [en la región] with a vision that is fair and just for all. We have not only geographical ties, but also socio-economic ties,” he said.
However, he pointed out that several plans are set to be announced in some specific areas to solve the exact problems mentioned above.
One of those announcements will be related to finance, “with a more ambitious economic agenda and with trade deals across the hemisphere” to correct trade collateral damage from the pandemic and inflation. It is also expected to consider plans to eliminate inequality in the western hemisphere and “support technological change” to provide more opportunities for the population.
The creation of concrete plans for health and safety systems will also be topics to be addressed at this meeting of senior leaders from the Americas.
“These are areas where very concrete steps are being taken to ensure that we are all moving forward to create and support each other more,” he said, believing it is necessary “to help a region so that it can recovering from the crisis it suffered because of the pandemic.