The Colombian joins the leftist Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, who reported this week that she will not attend the 10th Summit of the Americas either.
CDMX, Mexico. – The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, reported that he will not attend the 10th Summit of the Americas in the Dominican Republic and criticized the exclusion of governments from the region. In a message published on the social networkPetro justified his absence: “I will not attend the Summit of the Americas in the Dominican Republic. The dialogue does not begin with exclusions.”
With this announcement, Petro joins the leftist Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, who reported this week that she will not attend the 10th Summit of the Americas either and opposed the exclusion of the three Latin American regimes: Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
“No, I’m not going to attend,” the president said in her morning press conference last Monday.
Sheinbaum added that his government is considering sending a representative: “This is what we are looking at, to see if there will be someone from the Foreign Ministry who could go.” Regarding the measure against the three regimes, he maintained: “We never agree with the exclusion of any country” and, in reference to internal priorities, he pointed out that it must “be attending to the country and in particular the emergency [por las inundaciones que han dejado más de 40 personas muertas]”.
For its part, the host country and president pro tempore of the mechanism, the Dominican Republic, had communicated on September 30 that the Summit “became closely coordinated by the Organization of American States (OAS)” and that “this framework establishes specific limitations regarding participation.”
In an official statementthe Dominican Foreign Ministry stated that “the non-invitation to Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela (…) favors the greater call and ensures the development of the forum.”
Dominican diplomacy also differentiated the multilateral level from its bilateral ties. Regarding Cuba, he specified: “Relations are historical, solid and excellent. Bilateral exchanges in various areas have never been interrupted and have been mutually beneficial. Political differences have always been managed with reciprocal respect.”
Regarding Nicaragua, he indicated: “Relations are cordial. We share spaces in forums such as SICA, CELAC, the UN and SEGIB, in addition to maintaining balanced bilateral trade.” In relation to Venezuela, he noted: “A country with which we have deep historical ties. However, the Dominican Government has not recognized the legitimacy of the last two presidential elections held there, while the Venezuelan authorities have suspended diplomatic relations.”
The Dominican Government recalled that the three regimes have participated in other convocations in its territory – such as the Ibero-American Summit in 2023 or the CELAC Summit in Bávaro in 2017 – but stressed that, “for the Summit of the Americas, a strictly multilateral criterion will prevail.” In closing, he presented his decision as the “most favorable” and added: “The Government considers it preferable to create the conditions that ensure the broadest political dialogue, with the highest level of hemispheric representativeness.”
