The government ofThe United States has not reached a decision on the possible presence of Cuba at the IX Summit of the Americas, to be held between June 6 and 10, in Los Angeles, California.
“We are still having some final considerations”, saidJuan Gonzalez, director for the Western Hemisphere of the White House National Security Council, during a State Department teleconference this Wednesday, after being questioned by the press about Cuba's participation in the conclave, just five days after its inauguration.
González assured that as soon as the White House reaches a decision on the matter, it would be announced, but he announced thatHis government is in talks with leaders in the region, and he mentioned Mexico.He also recalled that it is the right of the host country to choose its guests.
Likewise, he highlighted that the United States is not as focused on who will be at the Summit as on what can be achieved with it, thus moving away from the previous position that ruled out the presence of the Cuba-Nicaragua axis at the regional event. Venezuela.
The triad of countries went from“unlikely guests” in the meeting of the Americas to declare themselves absent, along withBolivia andMexico, the latter, in response to the slamming of the door by the US Undersecretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs, Brian A. Nichols, one month ago.
"Cuba, Nicaragua and the regime of (Nicolás) Maduro do not respect the democratic charter of the Americas and therefore I do not expect their presence,"Nichols then assuredNTN24.
Responding to a journalist's questionThe nation Regarding the negative impact that some confirmed absences would bring, the head of US diplomacy for the Western Hemisphere assured that there would be participation from other leaders, from civil society, as well as businessmen interested in discussing issues that affect people in their daily lives. .
The same way,González specified that participation in the Summit will not affect cooperation between the United States and its partners in the region. on key issues such as democracy, climate change, health care and migration and insisted that his government continues in conversations with leaders in the area.
The IX Summit of the Americas will have a broad program in which governments, civil society and the private sector of the region will participate, as well as with the 13 international organizations that make up the Joint Summit Working Group.
The first time this type of meeting was held was in 1994, called by the then presidentBill Clinton. It is the only regional event where the presidents of all the countries of the American continent and the Caribbean region grouped in the Organization of American States meet, from which Cuba was expelled in 1962 and to which it has not returned.
The Summit has only had representation from the island's government in Panama, in 2015, in the prelude to the thaw during the administration ofBarack Obama.
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