Four days after the meeting held with high-ranking United States officials, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez complained that the government of Joe Biden has excluded his country from the preparations for the ninth Summit of the Americas, to be held in June in Los Angeles.
The Foreign Minister made these statements in a press conference this monday in Havana, after which he did not allow question time to accredited journalists. In it, he “respectfully” urged the US administration to say “whether Cuba will be invited” to this meeting.
With his usual victimizing tone, Rodríguez once again attacked the United States embargo, which he calls a blockade, and denounced that Washington is exerting “extreme pressure” on “numerous governments in the region” that oppose that exclusion, although without giving Names.
“The Government of the United States deceives public opinion and the governments of the hemisphere by saying that it has not yet decided on invitations,” he said, and considered it “undemocratic” that a host of the Summit of the Americas decides to exclude a country from the region. and stated that the United States “has no moral authority to set itself up as a model and criticize others” on issues of democracy and human rights.
Cuba, the foreign minister pointed out, was present at the two previous Summits of the Americas due to the “firm demand” of “numerous” governments of Latin America and the Caribbean
He also argued that it would be “surprising” if the president of the United States, Joe Biden, deviated from the policy established by the Administration of which he was vice president, referring to the thaw initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama. The exclusion of Cuba, he considered, would be a “serious” and “historic setback.”
Cuba, the foreign minister pointed out, was present at the two previous Summits of the Americas due to the “firm demand” of “numerous” governments of Latin America and the Caribbean.
“I offer the Government of the United States to discuss these issues bilaterally, multilaterally and even at the summit itself,” added the Cuban foreign minister after speaking of migration, democracy and human rights.
In his opinion, the ninth Summit of the Americas “could still be an opportunity” to debate “on equal terms,” honestly and without prerequisites, the most pressing problems of the American continent.
Joe Biden’s intentions to review the policy towards Cuba, which hardened during the presidency of his predecessor in office, Donald Trump, they were frozen after the repression of the Government of Díaz-Canel against the peaceful demonstrators of July 11.
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