Avellon Williams
HAVANA, CUBA- Earlier this week, Cuba’s government rejected its formal exclusion from the 2022 ninth Summit of the Americas under the themes (“Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future”), which began yesterday in Los Angeles, the United States.
In a statement, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted that the United States is, “abusing the privilege granted by its status as the host country,” and excluded Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the summit, a decision that it described as “discriminatory and unacceptable.”
Despite weeks of controversy and criticism, Washington finally announced that it would not invite representatives of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to the meeting, citing their lack of democratic standards, according to EFE news.
Cuba claims that these measures are “anti-democratic and arbitrary,” and shows that the United States “conceived and uses this high-level dialogue mechanism as an instrument of its hegemonic system in the hemisphere.”
In Havana’s view, “one cannot speak of ‘The Americas’ without referring to all the countries that make up the hemisphere” and the Biden administration “refused to heed the legitimate requests of numerous states” to change its position regarding Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
It recalls that President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez of Cuba “announced on May 25 that he would not be attending” and considered it “a firm decision by Cuba” if all the countries of the hemisphere were not invited on an equal footing.”
In addition, the Cuban government denounced “immoral pressure, blackmail, threats, and dirty deception maneuvers” used by the United States against some countries in the region.
“These are usual practices of imperialism that reflect its traditional contempt for our countries,” says the statement, which calls for “cooperation,” “solidarity,” “respect” and “sovereignty” for the continent instead of “exclusion,” “meanness,” “arrogance” and “subordination.”
It goes on to state that Cuba “has a widely recognized history of supporting and contributing without reservation with any legitimate proposal for real and concrete solutions to the most pressing problems” of the American continent.
Various countries have shown support to Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua in recent days, according to the island’s government, and the United States has “underestimated Cuba’s support in the region.” A special note of appreciation was extended to the presidents of Mexico, Bolivia, and Honduras, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Luis Arce, and Xiomara Castro, respectively, for their support, as well as to the Caribbean Community members.
Additionally, it stated that Argentina’s position as president of CELAC translated the majority opinion of the region against a selective summit, as many governments of South and Central America have said publicly and privately.”
According to the statement, controversy over those excluded has shown the United States that “it’s unilaterally and universally rejected policy of hostility toward Cuba” is not a consensus position across the hemisphere.
In the government’s view, its exclusion is a result of “arrogance, fear that uncomfortable truths would be revealed, efforts to avoid” addressing “more urgent issues” and “the contradictions of the U.S. political system,” as reported by EFE.
“In advance, it has been known that the documents intended for adoption in Los Angeles are not relevant to the region’s real problems and are useless and ignored.”
Furthermore, the statement asserts that “the OAS is being given a supranational prerogative to decide if electoral processes are legitimate or not, as well as being imposed by the Latin American and Caribbean governments with repressive, discriminatory and exclusionary policies against migrants” the statement asserted.
Additionally, Havana believes “the voice of Latin America and the Caribbean, as in the past, will resonate in Los Angeles in those days, with the admirable absence of fundamental leaders who have enormous political authority, morale, and recognition of their peoples and the world.”
The statement added, “We are also confident that the leaders of the region who decide to travel will be able to support with dignity that the United States cannot treat our people in the same manner as it did in the 20th century.”
What is the Summit of the Americas?
The Summit of the Americas is the only gathering of leaders from North, South, and Central America, as well as the Caribbean. The Summit and its stakeholder forums aim to promote regional economic growth and prosperity through cooperation based on shared respect for democracy, fundamental freedoms, labour dignity, and free enterprise.
During each Summit, civil society organizations, representatives of indigenous communities, civic leaders, business executives, and young entrepreneurs meet to promote dialogue and develop action plans to deal with the challenges and opportunities facing the Americans.
Every summit focuses on an important area of cooperation that is of interest to all the countries of the Americas.
Through this initiative, stakeholders have been able to promote democracy and human rights, increase economic competitiveness, promote development, improve access to clean energy and communications technology, strengthen regional security, and combat illicit trafficking.
During the Eighth Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru in 2018, leaders committed to fighting corruption that undermines democratic governance.
The nation hosting the Summit serves as Chair and the previous host as Vice-Chair.
