Pres. Joe Biden Will Travel to Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas; Mexico Pres. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's Attendance Still Unclear

President Joe Biden is set to travel to Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas that is held every few years.

The White House confirmed that the president will be joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lade Jill Biden, and First Gentleman Doug Emhoff, according to The Hill.

The Summit of the Americas will take place in the United States for the first time since the first gathering in 1994, which took place in Mami, Florida, per Al Jazeera.

Biden and other leaders from Latin America are expected to arrive in Los Angeles on June 8.

According to the White House, the Summit of the Americas aims to bring together governments from across the hemisphere to focus on pressing challenges. These challenges include migration, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change.

Reports also noted that Biden will seek regional consensus during the meeting on a new economic agenda to build on existing trade agreements within Latin America. President Joe Biden is also expected to present a plan to address the ongoing and increasing migration.

Will Mexico Pres. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Attend the Summit of the Americas?

The Biden administration has yet to announce a formal guest list for the Summit of the Americas next week. However, Latin American leaders have asked for the head of every government in the western hemisphere to be in Los Angeles for the event.

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has not yet confirmed whether he will attend the event. However, he previously expressed that all leaders of the nations in the western hemisphere should be invited.

"If all countries are invited, I am going to attend the summit... If not all countries are invited, the government representative Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard is going to attend," Lopez Obrador underscored.

Lopez Obrador also tackled the issue on Friday, asking whether the event that will be held in Los Angeles would be the Summit of the Americas or the friends of America summit.

It can be recalled that Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela were not properly invited by the United States to the said summit.

Top U.S. Official for Latin America Brian Nichols earlier said that he did not expect that the three countries will be invited to the event because they did not "respect" the 2001 Inter-American Democratic Charter.

However, an administration official last week underscored that they evaluated options on how to "best incorporate" the voices of the people of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua into the summit process.

Cuba President Will Not Attend the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles

Cuba President Miguel Diaz-Canel has announced that his country will not attend the Summit of the Americas.

"I can assure you that, under no circumstances, will I attend. As it has happened often times in the past, the voice of #Cuba will be heard at the Ninth Summit of the Americas," Diaz-Canel tweeted last week.

Meanwhile, far-right Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, confirmed last week that he will attend the summit despite chilly relations with the United States. Reports claimed that Bolsonaro will have a one-on-one meeting with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the summit.

The Summit of the Americas is expected to take place in Los Angeles from June 6 to 10.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: What Is the Summit of the Americas? - From U.S. Department of State