Latin American leaders threaten to boycott Biden's Summit of the Americas

The State Department announced last month that the Cuban, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan regimes will likely be excluded from the Summit of the Americas – a regional summit set to be held in Los Angeles in June.

At the summit, leaders from across the region are expected to discuss irregular migration, supply chain problems, rising energy, fuel and commodities costs, and the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Speaking to a small group of reporters, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols said “they are unlikely to be there,” adding that the summit was open to the Western Hemisphere’s democracies.

However, the White House on Tuesday noted that no decisions have yet been made regarding invitations to the summit.  

"We haven't made a decision about who will be invited, and no invitations have been issued yet," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

Latin America’s three dictatorships will not be the only delegations missing when the United States hosts the Ninth Summit of the Americas between June 6-10, however.

In recent days, the presidents of Bolivia, Brazil and Mexico have also threatened to pull out of the summit, further demonstrating the strained relations between Latin America and the Biden White House.

On Tuesday, Mexico’s leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador warned that he will not attend next month’s summit unless the United States invites Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

"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 told reporters in Mexico City.

"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. 

Bolivia’s socialist President Luis Arce echoed AMLO’s demands on Wednesday and said he would also skip the summit unless all parties were invited by the United States.

"A Summit of the Americas that excludes American countries will not be a full Summit of the Americas, and if the exclusion of sister nations persists, I will not participate in it," Arce wrote on Twitter.

Relations between La Paz and Washington have been strained since former socialist President Evo Morales took power more than a decade ago and Bolivian officials have repeatedly accused the United States of meddling in its internal affairs.

Similarly, Brazilian sources have said that conservative President Jair Bolsonaro said he will not attend the summit, although he did not say why.

A spokesman for Brazil's Foreign Ministry said no decision has been taken yet, but noted that "the president's attendance is being studied and is not confirmed.”

But officials from the three excluded countries have also spoken out against the U.S.’ decision to block their attendance.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said last month that the United States’ decision to exclude Cuba from summit preparations amounts to a setback for relations, just weeks after officials from both countries held high-level meetings for the first time in four years.

Tensions between Washington and Havana have remained high under President Biden and the administration has repeatedly alleged that the Cuban regime has systematically violated the rights of those who took to the streets to protest the regime last July.

Nichols also said that Maduro’s government would not likely be invited, but added that it was up to the White House to decide whether Venezuela’s interim-President Juan Guaido would be invited instead.   

The U.S. official expressed "deep respect" for Guaido's "interim government" and said the political and economic situation in Venezuela would be discussed at the summit. Maduro has held on to power since 2014 despite U.S. sanctions thanks to the financial, military and political support for countries like Russia, China and Iran.

It is also unsurprising that Nicaragua is set to be excluded as the United States has been at odds with dictator Daniel Ortega – a former Marxist guerrilla – who won a fourth consecutive term in November after jailing political rivals and cracking down on press freedom.

"It's clear Nicaragua has ceased any semblance of democracy in the wake of the sham election," Nichols said.

When asked if El Salvador might also be excluded, Nichols declined to respond, simply saying, “we are very much concerned by the erosion of democratic institutions."