Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will not attend the Summit of the Americas next month in Los Angeles if the Biden administration excludes Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, he said Tuesday.
'If they exclude, if not all are invited, a representative of the Mexican government is going to go, but I would not,' Lopez Obrador, just returned from a visit to Cuba, said during his daily news conference. He said his foreign affairs secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, would attend.
Lopez Obrador has been saying for weeks that no one should be excluded from the summit.
Last month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols said it was unlikely the three countries would be invited.
Migration at the U.S.-Mexico border is expected to be a hot topic at the summit, so Lopez Obrador's absence could be significant.
'Our goal is ... to sign a regional declaration on migration and protection in June in Los Angeles when the United States hosts the Summit of the Americas,' President Joe Biden said in March, as Colombian President Ivan Duque was visiting the White House.
Mexico is not the only country considering a boycott of the summit, as leaders from several Caribbean countries have threatened to stay home if the U.S. invited Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the U.S recognizes as the official leader of the oil-rich country.
'We do not believe in the policy of ostracizing Cuba and Venezuela. We do not recognize Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela. In those circumstances, Antigua and Barbuda will not participate,' said that country's prime minister, Gaston Browne.
Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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