Substitute while the actions of the article are loading
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday that he would not attend the US summit in Los Angeles this week after President Biden refused to invite three authoritarian states in the Western Hemisphere – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The neglect of America’s southern neighbor, two days before Biden landed in California, is a blow to Biden’s efforts to consolidate regional leadership and tackle issues ranging from climate change to immigration. While the announcement came as no surprise, the White House hoped Lopez Obrador, one of the region’s most prominent leaders, would attend the rally.
White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said officials had been in talks with Lopez Obrador and other Latin American leaders for more than a month and the administration had not been caught unprepared by the announcement. But she said Biden still felt compelled to take a “principled stand” on human rights abuses in the three countries.
Lopez Obrador’s move reflects the challenges of Biden’s oft-expressed view that the world is facing a broad confrontation between democracies and dictatorships.
The summit is facing a boycott due to the list of invitations
In an attempt to offset the announcement, Jean-Pierre said Lopez Obrador would visit Washington in July to meet with Biden directly. She also praised Mexico’s contribution to this week’s summit – which focuses on issues such as democracy, clean energy, politics, migration and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – and noted that the country’s foreign minister would be present.
“It is important to recognize that there are a number of views on this issue in our hemisphere, as well as in the United States,” Jean-Pierre said. “The president’s principled position is that we don’t believe dictators should be invited, which is why [Mexican] the president decided not to attend. “
During the summit, which officially began on Monday, leaders and others from North, Central and South America and the Caribbean plan to explore economic and general goals for the Western Hemisphere. But the meeting is also a test of US influence in the region, especially since Biden’s foreign policy is largely focused on Europe and Asia.
He has devoted much of his attention to Ukraine, which is struggling to defend itself against the Russian invasion. And he visited Japan and South Korea last month in a bid to blunt China’s growing economic and military power.
Biden tried to emphasize that his presidency marked a step away from President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies, which treated relations, especially in Latin America, as more transactional. He seeks to strengthen ties with countries that share American values.
However, this can be a difficult criterion. Biden held a Democracy Summit in December, for example, but invited some countries, such as Pakistan and the Philippines, which seem unlikely to meet the requirements.
The United States is hosting the America’s Summit for the first time since its inception in 1994, and as host it has a wide margin of appreciation for official invitees. But the summit revealed both regional disputes and bilateral tensions.
Several Latin American leaders have already chosen not to attend, including the leaders of Guatemala and Honduras, countries in the northern triangle that have been at the center of the administration’s efforts to stop illegal immigration. Honduras is sending a delegation to a lower level to protest the exclusion.
Jean-Pierre said the summit would feature 68 delegations and at least 23 heads of government, allowing participants to take part in talks on regional issues. “Our presence will be on par with what we have had in the past,” she said. “Yes, we will have these two countries that are not present, but [Biden] believes that it must adhere to its principles. “
Still, the decision not to invite the troika of authoritarian states has opened the United States to criticism as to which countries are labeled totalitarian pariahs.
Biden condemns Nicaragua’s pantomime election.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Monday that while he will never stop using his voice “to defend human rights”, the United States’ exclusion of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela “is not the way to go.”
“We think this is a mistake, a mistake,” he told reporters in Ottawa at a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “and we will say this during the summit.”
He added that neglect could be counterproductive, allowing expelled leaders to cite it as evidence of United States hostility. “When the United States claims to exclude certain countries from the summit, it is actually consolidating the position that those other countries are taking in their own countries,” Boric said.
Trudeau added that “it is extremely important to be able to communicate with our hemisphere partners – some with like-minded people, others with less like-minded people.” He did not explicitly say he agreed with the exclusion of the three countries, but noted that Ottawa has long had a different approach to Cuba than Washington.
At a press briefing on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre questioned why the United States continues to deal with oil-rich Saudi Arabia, whose heir to the throne is accused of being the architect of the 2018 assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Kashoghi. Saudi dissidents are outraged by reports that Biden is planning a presidential trip to Saudi Arabia without demanding responsibility for killing Kashoggi or improving human rights.
In March, Biden’s White House sent a delegation to discuss energy sanctions with Venezuela, another country with significant oil reserves. The meeting came weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine as the administration tried to blunt the political and economic impact of rising gas prices. The regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is being investigated by an international criminal tribunal for crimes against humanity.
Senator Robert Menendez (DN.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was pleased that the administration ruled out “authoritarian thugs”, but that Lopez Obrador’s absence “would unfortunately hamper efforts to continue the recovery.” relations and to cooperate on issues related to the well-being of both our nations. “
The Mexican president is offering voters a chance to overthrow him
He accused Lopez Obrador of choosing to “stand with dictators and despots to represent the interests of the Mexican people at a summit with his partners from all over the hemisphere”.
But Jean-Pierre stressed that the United States’ relations with Mexico have remained unchanged, saying: “We see them as friends.”
Amanda Colette contributed to this report.
Add Comment