Cuba denounced on Monday that the United States excluded it from the preparations for the 9th Summit of the Americas to be held in June in Los Angeles, considering that it would be a “historic setback” for the Joe Biden administration.
“I must denounce that the United States government has decided to exclude the Republic of Cuba of the preparations for the 9th Summit of the Americas”, which will take place between June 8 and 10 in the aforementioned city of California, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said in a press statement.
The official urged the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkento clarify whether the government of President Miguel Díaz-Canel will be summoned.
Rodríguez claimed to have evidence that Washington “is exerting extreme pressure at this time on numerous governments in the region that are opposed” to said exclusion.
He considered that not inviting Havana would be a “serious historical setback,” after the island participated in the last two summits, in 2015, in Panama, and in 2018, in Lima, “in which Cuba participated on an equal footing.
Later, a State Department spokesman told AFP that no “invitations have been issued since the White House“for the summit.
From early on the chancellor Rodriguez he had said that the US government “misleads” by giving that argument and urged Blinken to say “honestly whether Cuba will be invited or not.”
The United States seeks to achieve with the countries of Latin America a “firm” agreement on migration ahead of the next Summit of the Americas, Blinken said last week during a visit to Panama, where he met with ministers from twenty countries in the region in search of agreements to address this issue in the region.
“Suppress Migration”
“Right now, behind the backs of public opinion, a Letter of Understanding document on migration management and protection of migrants is being negotiated,” Rodríguez said.
It is “a code that seeks to force Latin American and Caribbean States to repress migration, to absorb migrants who USA decides to process within its territory,” he added.
The meeting took place at a time when Cuba It is experiencing massive emigration, in the midst of its worst economic crisis in almost three decades.
According to the United States Customs office, from October 2021 to March 2022, more than 78,000 Cubans entered the country through the border with Mexico, This figure almost doubles the number of nationals who left the island during the so-called “rafter crisis” in 1994.
Cuban migrants are the second largest group, after Hondurans, arriving at Mexico’s northern border to enter the United States illegally.
Rodríguez indicated that while other countries in the region have received incentives from Washington to contain the migratory flow, “in Cubahowever, his recipe is the tightening of the blockade”.
Washington and Havana Migration negotiations interrupted since 2018 resumed last Thursday, in the first high-level bilateral meeting since Joe Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021.
These migration talks “are without a doubt a positive sign” since Washington recognized the full validity of the 1994-1995 and 2017 bilateral agreements, estimated the chancellor.
It is “correct and positive” that the US side has recognized the non-compliance with the delivery of 20,000 agreed annual visas and that it is ready to resume its consular services at the embassy in Havana, although in a limited way, he added.
health and democracy
Rodríguez explained that, in addition to emigration, the other two topics planned for the summit are health ─basically the control of the Covid-19 pandemic─ and democracy.
For the summit “a so-called plan for the health and resilience of the Americas until the year 2030,” he said.
He recalled that his country “has provided the possibilities for international cooperation in health matters” and that he proposed to Washington cooperation of both with third countries, “what until today
He hasn’t had a response.”
“On democracy, the government of USA“said Rodríguez, who offered Washington “to discuss these issues bilaterally, multilaterally”, without fear.
The United States has insisted on the release of hundreds of protesters imprisoned for the historic protests that broke out on July 11, 2021 in nearly 50 Cuban cities.
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