Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not said whether he supports President Joe Biden’s decision to exclude Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba from this week’s US summit.
Trudeau acknowledges that some countries in the Western Hemisphere are “less sympathetic” than others.
But he says they all share a number of urgent issues, such as migratory pressures, climate change and a full recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three are expected to be on the agenda of the weekly summit, as the prime minister leaves for Los Angeles later today.
Along the way, he and Secretary of Defense Anita Anand stopped in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to meet with commanders and officials from Norad, the joint continental defense system planned to be upgraded.
Trudeau is also accompanied by Environment Minister Stephen Gilbo and Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie, who is scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Mexican counterpart Marcelo Ebrard.
“It is extremely important that we have the opportunity to communicate with our hemisphere partners – some like-minded, others less like-minded,” Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa on Monday with his Chilean counterpart, Gabriel Boric.
“Speaking of the important issues that are common to our people, whether it is migration pressure, whether it is climate change, whether it is coming through this pandemic, this is an important moment to come together.
Canada continues to uphold the importance of human rights and democratic values in all three excluded countries, “even when we recognize that Canada has a long-standing approach to Cuba that is different from the United States.”
Boric was much more vigorous in condemning the White House’s “mistake.”
“We need to express in the United States and elsewhere that exclusion is not the way to go,” Boric said.
“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.
Biden’s decision to exclude the three countries prompted Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to confirm on Monday that he would stand aside.
White House spokeswoman Carin Jean-Pierre dismissed the idea Monday that Lopez Obrador’s decision to withdraw from the summit was a sign of weakening US influence across the hemisphere.
“The United States remains the most powerful force in the hemisphere to address the major challenges facing America’s people – inequality, health, climate and food security,” said Jean-Pierre.
“The president must stick to his principles. He believes that he must adhere to his principles and not invite dictators, but we can still have an exciting conversation – there is a full agenda in which he will be very busy. “
Other priorities at the summit will include helping countries bring COVID-19 under control, building new links on climate and energy initiatives, tackling food insecurity and using existing trade agreements to ensure that more people can to reap the benefits.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 7, 2022.
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