Summit of Americas Opens Without Leaders of Mexico, Cuba, Among Others

The ninth Summit of the Americas started in Los Angeles. The gathering is considered a high-profile meeting that is expected to deliver an accord on managing unprecedented levels of migrants throughout the region.

The White House, wth the Organization of the American States and participating countries, highlighted the agenda on themes like migration, pandemic resilience, climate change, digital transformation, and democratic governance, according to a Miami Herald report.

Meanwhile, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro were not invited.

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday that he would skip the event and send his foreign affairs minister instead as all countries were not invited.

Leaders of El Salvador, Bolivia, and Honduras were not seen to attend. Honduras' new president, Xiomara Castro, will instead send Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina to Los Angeles in her place.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration officials earlier said that undemocratic regimes would likely be excluded as their leaders were not elected in free and fair elections.

The Inter-American Charter, a document subscribed to by member states of the OAS, requires countries for their leaders to be elected in a free and fair election to participate in these meetings.

Latin American Countries on Summit of the Americas

Mexico's Lopez Obrador has announced that he will not be attending after the Biden administration expressed that it would not invite Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Bolivia followed Mexico, and several Central American countries are still deciding.

Manuel Orozco, an expert at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank, said that the diminishing influence of the U.S. in Latin America is a "byproduct of toxic polarization."

Orozco added that they have not had the leadership to show why democracy matters, adding that politics and democracy are not talking to each other.

Some experts have raised questions on what progress can be made if Mexico and some of the Central American countries that are the sources of most of the illegal immigration into the U.S. are not present at the event.

Brazil's right-wing leader President Jair Bolsonaro earlier announced he would not attend until the White House promised him a bilateral meeting with Biden.

Argentina's leftist President Alberto Fernandez was still deciding until Biden telephoned him personally.

Summit of the Americas

Politico news reported that Biden aides are still being vague about what exactly the president will propose to his counterparts.

A White House official, however, hinted that there is an economic framework proposal, which would reportedly tackle issues like supply chain vulnerabilities.

There will also be an initiative to promote health systems and health security to prepare for future pandemics and up supply chains.

A new partnership of climate and energy with Caribbean nations is also being eyed.

One factor driving the launch of the gathering was promoting democracy, with democracy in the region still under threat and not just in places like Venezuela.

There will also be talks about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It has sought to call as many countries as possible to stand up against Kremlin.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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