The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) rejected this Friday in Cuba the “arbitrary, ideological and politically motivated exclusion” of the Island, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas next June, organized in the United States.
“This unilateral decision is a serious historical setback in hemispheric relations that offends the Latin American and Caribbean peoples,” said the member countries of the regional forum, after concluding a one-day meeting in Havana on Friday.
The executive secretary of ALBA, Sacha Llorenti, read the final declaration of the meeting in which he criticized the “discriminatory treatment of the United States against numerous representatives of the genuine civil society of our continent,” according to a report from the agency EFE.
The 12-point text criticized the appointment scheduled for June 6 to 10 in the US city of Los Angeles and described it as an “exclusive meeting that does not contribute to the solution of any of the challenges,” adds the news release.
Final Declaration of the XXI ALBA-TCP Summit:
They reject arbitrary and ideologically motivated exclusion of countries of the region in the IX Summit of the Americas.
They denounce discriminatory treatment by the US government towards members of true civil society in the region. pic.twitter.com/lcGSaEwnbU
— Alba-TCP | Cuba (@ALBATCP_Cuba) May 27, 2022
The meeting in Havana was attended by leaders and authorities of the member countries of the bloc, including the host president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the leaders of Venezuela (Nicolás Maduro) and Bolivia (Luis Arce).
The participants criticized Washington’s decision to leave out Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, considering that these nations do not respect the democratic charter.
In Díaz-Canel’s opinion, for example, Washington’s position is based on “anti-democratic” and “interfering” practices, since, he said, the US “neither politically nor morally deserves” the right to decide who can attend the appointment.
The president specifically criticized the fact that the United States arrogates a “democracy monitoring power” and affirmed that there “they are not capable of ensuring a plural space” and “disrespect the differences” between the different political systems, review EFE.
Similarly, he assured that Washington “disregards the demand for a true hemispheric summit with all the countries of the continent,” referring to the position of a group of countries that have advocated including all nations in the regional meeting.
President @DiazCanelB:
Taking advantage of its status as host of the IX Summit of the Americas, the US seeks to adopt interfering documents and concepts, without taking into account everyone’s criteria and excluding countries that have much to contribute on central issues of the event.#ALBAUnited pic.twitter.com/F8X6LNJWPY
— ALBA-TCP (@ALBATCP) May 27, 2022
Meanwhile, the president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, who spoke by videoconference, considered that the Summit of the Americas has ceased to be a “useful weapon” to apply his Monroe Doctrine, because “in the world there is no longer room for hegemonism.” .
For his part, the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, described the call as “erratic” and highlighted the meaning that, in his opinion, the criticism that the exclusion of several nations, including his own, by the Biden Administration has aroused.
In this sense, he especially highlighted the role of his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for being the first Latin American leader who warned that he would not attend the Summit of the Americas if any country was excluded.
“We have combined in the course of this week the enormous power that the Latin American and Caribbean conscience has,” he said.
Another of the leaders who advanced that he would not participate in an appointment with exclusions was the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, who this Friday in Havana reiterated his decision and was convinced that “no country can assume the right to decide who is part or not from the continent.
In addition to Mexico and Bolivia, other countries in the region have questioned their participation in the Summit of the Americas, such as Honduras and Guatemala; while several others have expressed their disagreement, such as Argentina and Chile.
Less than two weeks before the meeting, the US has not yet published the final list of participants, but has confirmed that it will not include Venezuela or Nicaragua. Nor has he clarified what he will finally do with Cuba, although Díaz-Canel has assured that “in no case” would he attend the meeting.
EFE / OnCuba
