Mexican president refuses to participate in Joe Biden’s Summit of the Americas – RFI

Published on: 06/06/2022 – 17:46 This Monday begins the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. A summit to be held without the presence of Mexico as confirmed on Monday by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Mexico may be one of the main economic partners of the United States, a country with which it shares nearly 3,500 kilometers of land border, but it will not be present at the Summit of the Americas organized by American President Joe Biden. I’m not going to the summit because we don’t invite all the countries of America. I believe in the need to change the policy that has been imposed for centuries: exclusion,” said the Mexican president. He will therefore send his Minister of Foreign Affairs to represent him in California. Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela not invitedAndres Manuel Lopez Obrador refers to the absence of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela who were not invited by Washington. The lack of democratic space in these countries and the question of respect for human rights justify these absences according to a White House official. The communist regime in Havana also denounces an undemocratic and arbitrary decision. “I very much regret this situation, but I do not accept that anyone puts himself above other countries. I do not accept the hegemony, neither of China, nor of Russia, nor of any country”, detailed the Mexican president. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador does not want to turn his back on the United States. During his meeting with the press on Monday morning, he announced a future trip to Washington next July. The opportunity to meet Joe Biden at the White House and to discuss with him the question of the integration of all of America, like what was done in Europe. On the occasion of the summit, President Biden hopes to conclude a regional cooperation agreement on a politically explosive subject, and which has earned him violent criticism from the Republican opposition: immigration. The number of people seeking to enter the United States after fleeing poverty and violence in Central America and Haiti is on the rise. Thousands of migrants are concentrating on Mexico’s northern border, hoping to cross into the United States. The summit must also look at climate change, Covid-19, and “the fight for freedom and democracy”, the White House had indicated.►Also read: Summit of the Americas: Joe Biden will have to strike hard to make friends in the south