Democratic congressmen led by the president of the House Committee responsible for legislation and supervision of foreign policy, Greg Meeks, asked the president of the United States, Joe Biden, through a letter, to invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the Summit of the Americas.
The letter was published by journalist Joshua Goodman of Associated Press through his Twitter account.
“We strongly believe that excluding countries could jeopardize future relationships throughout the region,” the letter says.
“While we may not support many of the actions taken by governments… we believe that a policy of engagement will produce more fruitful results than isolation.”
In the opinion of the congressmen, inviting Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to participate in this year’s summit to be held in Los Angeles, California, “is not an approval of the vision and ideology of those countries, but rather an invitation to commit to regional level that should be extended to every country in the Americas.”
“The Summit of the Americas is a special opportunity to meet as a region and provide an open platform for discussion.”
They highlighted in the letter that already leaders from Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, among others have threatened not to participate in the summit unless all countries are invited. As well as the exhortation made by the Caricom and CELAC countries not to exclude any country from next month’s summit.
“If we are truly committed to facing complex regional challenges together, as a hemisphere, the summit must be inclusive in many ways, including as good faith negotiators with countries that do not share our point of view,” the letter reads.
After 28 years of being the first host in the number 1 edition of the Summit of the Americas, the United States is once again the venue for the meeting, this time in the city of Los Angeles, California.
for the inclusion
The Community of Caribbean States (Caricom) reiterated this Wednesday its request that the XI Summit of the Americas should be an inclusive meeting that brings together all the countries of the region, an event that will take place from June 6 to 10 in Los Angeles. , USA.
The Puebla Group and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on May 3 urged the Biden government to hold a Summit of the Americas without excluding any nation, in a clear message to its organizers.
“The Puebla Group invites the government of President (of the United States, Joe) Biden to hold the next Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, in June, without excluding the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua,” he said. the political group in a statement.
According to this forum of leftist political leaders, leave out these countries that have suffered “the social costs of the predatory impact of the COVID-19 virus” make no sense, if in the end the management of the pandemic and climate change in the region will be analyzed as the central theme of the Summit.
Maduro: they are afraid of Bolivarianism
For his part, the President of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro, considered that the US is afraid of anti-imperialist voices.
“They try to exclude us because they are afraid of our anti-imperialist voice, they are afraid of the voice of the Bolivarians, they do not want the voice of Bolívar and Chávez to reach that meeting; but whatever they do in Washington, the voices of Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua will reach Los Angeles, in the great protests of the people,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on Tuesday.
On May 19, the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortegasaid that he will not participate in the Summit of the Americas and pointed out that the “Yankees believe they are owners” of Latin America and the Caribbean.
“It seems that we are all colonies of the Yankee empire, that there is a king there and that he decides when we meet. The king decides whom he invites. We cannot be asking the Yankee or begging him that we want to go to his Summit, no, we are not stimulated by his Summit, we are not interested », he said.
For his part, the President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz Canelthrough his Twitter account, assured that the summit was conceived as a non-inclusive space since he assured that he will not attend “for any reason.”
“It is known that the United States government conceived from the beginning that the Summit of the Americas would not be inclusive. It was his intention to exclude several countries, including #Cubadespite the strong regional demand for an end to exclusions, “he posted.
