Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has not confirmed his attendance at the Summit of the Americas, as a way of pressuring the United States to invite all the countries of the region, without leaving out Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba.
Juan Gonzalez, senior director for the Western Hemisphere at the White House, and Brian Nichols, undersecretary for the Western Hemisphere at the State Department, confirmed that the dialogue on this matter is still ongoing , but Gonzalez stated that President Joe Biden “personally” wants the Mexican president to attend the event in Los Angeles, California.
“I am not going to go into the details of the considerations… but we are really sure that this summit will be well attended… our relationship with Mexico is maintained and will continue to be positive”, he said Gonzalez. “The president of the United States is very interested in President López Obrador attending, the president personally wants the president of Mexico there.”
The official insisted that the Biden Administration has treated all the countries in the region as its partners and that their opinions “are taken consider”.
“Whether on this topic or any other topic, it is to treat the countries of the region as our partners… whose opinions we have to take seriously into account and certainly with Mexico with others who have expressed the opinion”, added Gonzalez.
However, he defended that the guest list is “a prerogative of the host”.
“We will make a final decision and announce once the decision has been made,” he assured, while ruling out the issue becoming a “distraction” at the summit if López Obrador does not attends.
Nichols said that the Biden Administration seeks to focus the agenda on the key needs of the region and the actions that the private sectors, as well as civil organizations, are taking in coordination with the governments .
“We will have the assistance of leaders from all over our hemisphere, but also leaders from the private sector and executive directors, members of civil society,” Nichols said in a conference with journalists, the most of Latin America. “Literally thousands of people are coming together in an unprecedented way to talk about the issues of interest that affect people in their daily lives.”
The five objectives
About the objectives of the summit that will take place from 8 to 10 of June, Nichols emphasized that there have been several negotiations with the different countries and Mexico has been key in it, to build “a sustainable, resilient and equitable future”.
The five axes of the agenda are: democratic governance, helping resilience, the transition to clean energy, the green transformation and the digital transition.
“The countries of our hemisphere have been playing an active role in the negotiation of the review group for the implementation of the summit of the five political commitments that will be approved at the summit,” he said. she. “And that includes Mexico, engagement at many levels, from permanent representative ambassadors, the Organization of American States, senior ministry officials, to foreign ministers.”