Biden finally excludes Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas

The Biden administration made a final decision on June 6 not to invite the regimes of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to the Summit of the Americas to be held this week in Los Angeles, California, Bloomberg reported.

The United States made the call after weeks of discussions with Latin American and Caribbean governments, including Mexico, according to people familiar with the deliberations, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

The U.S. choice is based on concerns about the lack of democracy and respect for human rights in the three countries, the sources said.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said for weeks that he would skip the Summit of the Americas unless representatives of authoritarian governments were invited. 

The United States had refused to invite them, citing its anti-democratic record, but continued to discuss the issue with Mexico. In turn, leaders of other nations, including Guatemala and Honduras, said they might also skip the summit.

The Cuban regime has been keen to gain access to the forum, and campaigned in recent weeks for international support for a U.S. invitation.

Bruno Rodriguez, the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, regretted on April 25 that the United States excluded Cuba from the preparations for the Summit of the Americas. The foreign minister made these statements at a press conference in Havana, in which he "respectfully" urged the U.S. government to say "if Cuba will be invited" to the event.

Rodriguez assured that Washington is exerting "extreme pressures" on "numerous governments of the region" which, according to the regime official, are opposed to such exclusion.

During 2021, the state of human rights in Cuba worsened, especially after the massive protests against the communist regime that broke out on 2021. Hundreds remain imprison inside the island, mostly young people, sentenced to terms of up to 30 years for demonstrating during last summer's popular uprising.

Since the end of April, Brian A. Nichols, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, stated that it was "unlikely" that the regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela would be invited to participate in the Summit of the Americas, scheduled for June 6-10 in Los Angeles.

After being asked by NTN24 whether Washington would invite the Cuban government, Nichols answered: "No. It is a decision of the President (Joe Biden) but I believe he has been very clear that (...) countries whose actions do not respect democracy will not receive invitations".