Condemns Washington’s “discriminatory” move to remove Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from US summit

According to Reuters, a group of South American countries who gathered in Havana on Friday, local time, condemned the exclusion of some countries from the US Continental Summit next month. The United States has claimed that it only wants the leaders of governments that respect democracy to be present.

The United States will host the US Continental Summit in Los Angeles on June 16-20 and has said it will not invite Venezuela or Nicaragua. At the same time, the coordinator of the summit said that it was up to the White House to decide whether to invite Cuba.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Conel said this week that he would not attend the Los Angeles meeting “under any circumstances”, even if invited.

Ten so-called Alba bloc countries – including Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua – issued a statement in Havana on Friday condemning the expulsion and discriminatory treatment at the Continental Summit in Los Angeles.

In addition, they described the removal as “arbitrary, ideological and politically motivated”: “This unilateral decision is a serious historical setback in hemisphere relations.”

Earlier in the day, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro described the upcoming US summit as “chaotic” and called on the leaders of a group of countries, especially Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to “stand up and speak the truth.” “Shout out to the American continent.”

According to Reuters, the White House and the US State Department have not yet responded to requests for comment.

The Mexican president, along with the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Guatemala and Honduras, have threatened to boycott the summit if some countries are removed.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that 13 of the 14 Caribbean countries, not including Cuba, were planning to attend the Los Angeles summit.

The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonzalez, also announced in Havana that he had received an invitation to attend the summit but would not attend.