The US confirmed this Thursday that it has not invited Venezuela or Nicaragua to the Summit of the Americaswhich will be held in June in Los Angeles, and was more ambiguous about Cuba by pointing out that “yet” it has not made a call for this country.
The coordinator of the Summit of the Americas, Kevin O’Reilly, appeared this Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where, when asked by legislator Marco Rubio, of Cuban origin, he confirmed that none of those countries has been invited for the time being. , although it was blunt that neither Venezuela nor Nicaragua will be.
“Have we invited someone from the Cuban regime to take part in the summit?” Rubio asked, to which the State Department official replied that this decision corresponds to the White House.
Pressed by the senator on whether that means that Cuba has not yet been invited, O’Reilly insisted that it is something that the White House has to decide, to which Rubio asked again if a call for the Caribbean island.
“To the best of my knowledge, no,” O’Reilly said, adding that the US has invited representatives of Cuban civil society.
O’Reilly explained that the US government wants “to have a broad participation of civil society in each country where the authoritarians, the dictators, seek to end public debate.”
Whether or not he was finally invited, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said on Wednesday that “in no case” will he attend the meeting.
Summit of the Americas: “I can assure you that I will not attend in any case,” says Cuban president
Rubio then asked if the US had invited the Nicolás Maduro “regime” or any of its representatives to the summit, to which the coordinator of this meeting said “absolutely not.”
“We do not recognize them as a sovereign government,” settled O’Reilly.
In response to a similar question about whether the government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has been invited, O’Reilly answered with a resounding “no”.
Regarding the Venezuelan opposition, the official stated that the US recognizes Juan Guaidó “as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela” and added that they are in “constant discussions” with the Venezuelan “transitional government” about how they can participate and collaborate in the top.
Asked about Rubio, O’Reilly indicated that it is up to the White House to issue that invitation and that at the moment it has not been sent.
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced today that this Friday he will define his attendance at the Summit of the Americas due to the controversy over the possible exclusion of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the meeting.
López Obrador has created a regional controversy by conditioning his attendance on the White House inviting all the countries in the region, including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
His position has been supported by countries such as Bolivia, Guatemala and members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), while others such as Argentina, Honduras and Chile have replied to the criticism, although they will attend the meeting.
During the hearing, Rubio inquired about Mexico’s position and O’Reilly stressed that they are holding discussions with the Executive of that country and all the governments of the region on “the organization and structure of the debate.”
