The governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are likely to be excluded from the Ninth US Summit, which will be hosted by the United States in June, a senior State Department official has said. “It is unlikely he will be there,” Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols told a small group of reporters on Wednesday, saying the summit of regional leaders would focus on the democracies of the western hemisphere. The comments were the clearest message that these three governments, all with bad relations with Washington, would snub as soon as the White House made the list of invitations public. This announcement will come soon, Nichols added. His remarks come days after Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the Biden government of pressuring regional governments to prevent Cuba from attending the summit. “We have learned from various sources that the United States government is working hard and putting pressure on countries in the region to try to exclude Cuba from the 9th US Summit,” Rodriguez wrote on Twitter. “There is no excuse for excluding Cuba or any other country from this event that we attended the last two editions,” he said. The United States and Cuba held their first high-level talks in four years last week, but tensions continue between the two nations over immigration, ongoing US sanctions against the island and the recent crackdown on Cuban opposition protesters. government. On Wednesday, Nichols also said it was unlikely that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government would play a role in the summit, but said it would be up to the White House to decide whether to invite Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Gu to the post. The United States and dozens of other countries have recognized Guido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and avoided Maduro after accusing him of rigging his re-election in 2018. But last month, Maduro said he had agreed on an agenda for future talks with US officials after meeting with a delegation from Washington in the first such discussions in years. Relations between Washington and Managua, meanwhile, have been strained in recent months after the United States criticized the re-election of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega last November as “false.” Ortega presided over an extensive and ongoing crackdown on political opponents and opposition figures before and after last year’s vote, prompting condemnation from US and European officials. “It is clear that Nicaragua has stopped showing democracy in the wake of the rigged election,” Nichols said. Immigration is expected to be a major topic of discussion at the Ninth US Summit, as the Biden administration seeks to strengthen regional cooperation to prevent asylum seekers from reaching large numbers on the southern US border with Mexico. Those numbers are expected to rise soon next month as the United States plans to end a controversial pandemic policy that has allowed authorities to quickly evict most people who have arrived at the border seeking protection. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden will speak with his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday to “discuss their vision for the Ninth US Summit and how North America can take the lead in advancing initiatives.” area, “the White House said. statement. “They also plan to discuss migration cooperation, joint development efforts in Central America, competitiveness and economic development, security, energy and economic cooperation.”
