And that’s because the fact of defending respect for the dignity of our peoples, speaking out for brotherhood and not confrontation, like Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), President of Mexico, did once again yesterday, is what the Apostle of Cuba always advocated for.

This time, AMLO spoke at his morning press conference -the morning ones-, this Tuesday, informing that "If they were excluded, if not everyone is invited, a representation of the Government of Mexico will go, but I would not go. ”.

He specified that Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard would represent him and his absence would be a message of protest "because I don’t want the same policy to continue in America and I want to assert independence, sovereignty and openly support universal brotherhood.”

Earlier this month, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, officially announced that Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua would be excluded from the IX Summit of the Americas, to be held June 6-9 in L.A.

López Obrador stressed yesterday that “We are not in favor of confrontation, we are for brotherhood, to unite. And even if we have differences, we can work them out, at least listening to each other, talking to each other, but not excluding anyone. In addition, no one has the right to exclude, let no one excludes anyone.

“For political reasons, for ideological reasons, for keeping the old, not ancient, old policy of more than two centuries ago in these times, are we going to miss out the fact that we can strengthen our economies, benefit our peoples, lift our people out of poverty? millions of Mexicans and Latin Americans and all of America? No, no, we have to think differently”, he sentenced.

During his recent visit to Cuba, AMLO had already spoken out for the lifting of the U.S. blockade on Cuba, noting that "Not all the waters in the oceans will erase the stain of sanctions on Cuba."

The 14 member countries of the Caribbean Community, Caricom, have also announced that they will not attend the meeting in Los Angeles if the U.S. excludes any nation, as announced last Thursday by ambassador , Ronald Sanders of Antigua and Barbuda. "The Summit of the Americas is not a meeting of the United States, so it cannot decide who is invited and who isn’t," he said.

Bolivia, for its part, also condemned the exclusions announced by the U.S. Its president, Luis Arce, was categorical about it:

All the countries that are part of this great continent are American, and we are in our similarities and in our differences, so there’s no reason that justifies the exclusion of the peoples and voices in Our America.

— Luis Alberto Arce Catacora

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff