Mexican President Threatens to Boycott Americas Summit

Andrés Manuel López Obrador won't attend unless America invites every country.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador won’t attend unless America invites every country.

Next month, the Summit of Americas is slated to take place, a large-scale meeting of representatives from countries in North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The United States is hosting the event, which will be held in Los Angeles, California. However, three countries have not been invited due to ongoing human rights issues: Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Due to this, Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has threatened to boycott the event on the grounds that all countries in the Americas should be invited to the summit.

“Participation in the Los Angeles Summit has not yet been resolved because we are proposing that no one is excluded because we seek the unity of all America,” López Obrador said in a briefing.

“We feel that there should be no confrontation. Even with the differences, we must dialogue, all Americans, then we are yet to resolve this issue; we have a very good relationship with the government of President Biden. We want everyone to be invited. That’s the position of Mexico,” he added.

“I’m aware that there are political groups in the US that are committed to confrontation, that would like to hold the people of Latin America and the Caribbean hostage, as is the case of the blockade against Cuba, which is highly promoted by Cuban politicians who have a lot of influence in the US,” López Obrador explained.

“But I consider the blockade inappropriate, and inhumane (…) an entire people cannot suffer for the interest of a group, so the US government must decide on this because it is a matter of human rights, which has to do with sovereignty,” he added.

“If excluded, if not everyone is invited, a representation of the Mexican government will go, but I would not go. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard would represent me.”