The decision of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador not to attend the 9th Summit of the Americas that began on Monday in Los Angeles (California) will necessarily have repercussions on the already tense and complicated relationship between our country and the United States.
AMLO insists that standing up the host of the event will not negatively affect the relationship because, according to him, US President Joe Biden is “a good man.”
The president probably wants us to believe that Biden is not only good but dumb, but the reality is that you don’t get to have the most powerful position in the world by being good or dumb.
During his long career of 52 years, Biden has dealt with who knows how many heads of state or government, some truly important in the international arena, Andrés Manuel being one more on the long list. Surely some of them, important or not, did not behave as he would have liked.
But the fact that Andrés Manuel has publicly snubbed him as he did is not something that he is going to ignore, especially when his personal approval level is very low and his country is facing various internal and external crises. When he deems it convenient, he will charge the Mexican.
To begin with, the way in which AMLO dismissed Biden’s invitation has been immediately used by Russia and China to minimize him and the Summit.
For example, an article published yesterday on the website of the Russian television network RT, entitled “Important US-led summit described as a failure – Venezuela’s leader offers instead a more inclusive meeting of the Americas”, notes that “Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro praised his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for not attending the US-led ‘Summit of the Americas’. Maduro, who was not invited to the event in Los Angeles, suggested a more inclusive meeting with US President Joe Biden ‘as a guest’. Maduro also expressed his “admiration for the lucidity and courage of the President of Mexico.”
Also yesterday, the editorial of ChinaDaily, an English-language newspaper published in China, was headlined “Washington’s Intention to Control Its Backyard Portends Failure of Los Angeles Summit” and read in part: “The repercussions of the Joe Biden administration’s insistence on not invite the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the IX Summit of the Americas (…) are so strong and broad that it has been a challenge for the government to even ensure that the invited leaders arrive. That several regional leaders have protested the decision, even with the threat of their personal absence, is just a sign of Latin America’s discontent with Washington’s arrogance (…) The Biden administration and the Democratic Party are under increasing pressure heightened by migration issues, which loom in the run-up to the midterm elections, and are also desperate to limit perceived growing Chinese influence in the region.”
AMLO’s decision is being exploited by the enemies of the US and that does not suit us Mexicans. Biden will show, sooner rather than later, that he is neither good nor stupid, and he will collect it.
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