The Joe Biden administration said it understood President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s stance not to attend the Summit of the Americas, but insisted that the United States will not invite “dictators” to the meeting.
This, in response to the Mexican president, who rejected the decision of the United States government not to invite all the countries of the continent, in particular, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
“There is certainly a diversity of opinion when it comes to who should be invited to the Summit of the Americas. We have done our best to incorporate the views of the hemisphere. Sadly, it is remarkable that one of the key elements of this summit is democratic governance, and these countries are not examples, to put it mildly, of democratic governance,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told a news conference.
Live now! @StateDeptSpox briefs reporters from the State Department, also streaming on https://t.co/5AoZ1Ubtkh. https://t.co/DTsAPwihlI
— Department of State (@StateDept) June 6, 2022
The spokesman said they will seek to collaborate with Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
In the same vein, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration maintains its stance of not inviting “dictators.”
“It is important to recognize that there is a variety of views on this issue in our hemisphere, as well as in the United States. The main position of the president (Biden) is that we do not believe that dictators should be invited,” he said at a press conference.
Tune in for a briefing with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. https://t.co/1QukZIsHsb
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 6, 2022
The spokeswoman said that there is a sincere relationship with López Obrador and stressed that in July he will make a bilateral visit to the United States to follow up on the Summit of the Americas.
“The United States remains the most powerful force to drive hemispheric action to address the central challenges facing the peoples of the Americas: inequality, health, climate, and food security. The president remains a leader in the hemisphere,” he said.
In Los Angeles, the Summit of the Americas is scheduled to take place June 6-10. Meanwhile, López Obrador announced that this week he will go to Oaxaca to review the work to attend to the people affected by Agatha, which made landfall as a hurricane and then degraded to a storm.
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