Los Angeles will host the “Americas Summit” from June 6 to 10, with the primary purpose of building hemispheric cooperation.
A robust show of solidarity in the Americas would be good for the embattled Biden administration, which is increasingly embroiled in backing the conflict in Ukraine and fighting off Chinese security and economic advances in the Global South.
Except that this is not going to happen. The sticking issue is Washington’s resolve to invite-only nations with which it has good ties to the Americas Summit, which means Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela are not invited. The invites are issued by the host countries. Despite having attended the previous two summits, Cuba has not been invited this time.
Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela Not Invited To The Americas Summit
According to the Biden administration, nations in the Americas Summit are chosen based on their embrace of political freedom, human rights, and democratic norms, which is why these 3 countries are not invited. Their views towards civil rights and liberal democracy differ significantly from those of other countries, and they leave much to be desired.
However, as a cursory check of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch publications on the area would confirm, many of the invited countries are hardly paragons of such principles. In 2021, 138 human liberties activists were slain in Colombia, a strong US ally. In Mexico alone, eleven journalists have been killed this year.
Despite questionable re-election, the former president of Honduras, a US ally, has now been deported on drug and weapons accusations. Bolsonaro dubbed the “Trump of the Americas” in Brazil, has vowed to disregard impending election results and has enlisted the military’s help. Despite this, these countries — as well as a few others with equally shady histories – are invited to Los Angeles.
