The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said this Friday that he awaits a formal response from the United States to his request to invite all countries to the Summit of the Americas, although Washington confirmed that it did not invite Venezuela or Nicaragua.
“We are going to wait for them to formally respond to us and from there we are going to make a decision, it is not about confronting us, President (Joe) Biden is a respectful person,” he declared in his morning conference, which was held in Sinaloa, in the northwest of the country.
The Mexican president asked to wait for a formal communication from the United States Department of State, despite the fact that the coordinator of the Summit of the Americas, Kevin O’Reilly, confirmed this Thursday that he did not invite Venezuela or Nicaragua, although he was ambivalent about Cuba.
López Obrador indicated that he is still “waiting for the invitations to be sent to all the countries of the Americas so that in effect be a Summit of the Americas”, an event that will be held from June 6 to 10 in Los Angeles, California.
“Then we are going to wait and see what they resolve, anyway, Mexico is going to participate, nothing more than if all the countries are not invited, I am not going to attend”, he insisted.
López Obrador has created a regional controversy by conditioning his attendance on the White House inviting all the countries in the region, including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, to the meeting in Los Angeles.
His position has been supported by Bolivia, Guatemala and nations of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), while countries such as Argentina, Honduras and Chile have replicated the critics, although without withdrawing their assistance.
“Is it going to be the Summit of the Americas or is it going to be the Summit of the friends of America? Because if they are excluded, what continent are those countries from? Aren’t they from America?”, the president of Mexico now quipped.
The president recalled that Mexico’s position at the summit, which Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard would attend in his place, will be to promote an economic integration of America and that “there are organizations that protect the rights of all countries equally”.
“We are going to wait because, I insist, President Biden is a good person, his heart is not hardened. Yes, I am aware because I am not naive that there is pressure from groups of vested interests and threats, as always, blackmail”, he reiterated.