The Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, once again insisted that, despite the absences of the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas 2022those countries are represented in Los Angeles by other sectors of society.
In an interview with the chain Univision which will be broadcast this Sunday, and to whose transcript he had access OnCubathe senior official of the Biden administration He advocated the right of the hosts to decide who they invite or not, something that has been criticized by a group of governments in the region.
“Those countries are here. For example, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua: I met with civil society representatives from all three countries, as well as activists and human rights defenders. I would say that they are as representative, and probably more so, of their respective peoples than the current governments or regimes. So they’re fully here, they’re a vibrant presence at the Summit, and that’s important,” Blinken said.
The Secretary of State denied that with the recent electoral processes and the increase in leftist governments in Latin America, an anti-democratic bloc is being created on the continent.
Regarding the case of Mexico, whose president advocated from the beginning for the inclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua in the forum, and decided not to attend Los Angeles due to the refusal of the Biden government to invite government representatives of those nations, Blinken recognized having had “extensive conversations” with Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who is attending the summit for his country and whom he called “my friend and counterpart.”
“The president (Biden) is very much looking forward to receiving President López Obrador at the White House in July. We have a very deep and permanent collaboration in practically all the issues that concern both countries. (But) we have a difference of opinion on this particular issue of Summit attendance. Usually the hosts make those decisions. We decided it was important to focus on the underlying democratic principles that bind our hemisphere together,” he noted.
In addition, he asserted that “there is an incredibly vibrant hemisphere. We have democracies of the left, of the right, of the center, but here is the common denominator: all these governments are motivated by the need to show that they can deliver effectively towards their people.”
Blinken highlighted the difference between the vision of the current administration towards Cuba in the face of the thaw promoted by former President Barack Obama, and relations with Venezuela and Nicaragua.
“Our approach in each of these countries is to take the steps that we believe are most effective in promoting and certainly upholding people’s human rights and their democratic aspirations,” he said.
Regarding the particular case of Cuba, he specified that “we had the protests of July last year, and we saw the government’s incredibly repressive reaction: imprisonment of minors, sentences of 30 to 35 years, more recently artists who are a kind of icon for those who protested. last July, now being threatened with 16-year sentences for the simple artistic expression of their opinions”.
And he concluded: “We believe that it is very important to defend those who are being repressed, persecuted. At the same time, we have taken some limited steps, in terms of family reunification, in terms of travel, remittances, in terms of investing in entrepreneurs, that we believe can also help the Cuban people advance their own aspirations.”
The Cuban authorities have described the Summit of the Americas as “undemocratic” and “discriminatory” and have criticized their exclusion of the forum by the Biden administration, and also the non-attendance of representatives of civil society related to Havana for not having received a visa to attend, in contrast to what happened with activists and opponents of the island’s government, present in Los Angeles .
