President Biden has reportedly made a final decision not to invite the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to attend the Summit of the Americas, which opens in Los Angeles today. The move might lead to other Latin American leaders boycotting the talks. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as well as the leaders of Guatemala, Bolivia and Honduras have threatened to skip the summit, which is taking place in the United States for the first time since 1994. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel recently criticized Biden’s plan to exclude Cuba and other nations.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel: “Our America has changed. Exclusions are no longer possible. The decision to not invite everyone is a historic setback, and all countries must be invited on equal terms. It’s disrespectful and harmful to the sovereignty of nations to try to decide, from the privileged condition of the host, those who represent them. In the face of attempts at exclusion and selectivity, it is urgent to strengthen the authentic mechanisms of Latin American and Caribbean integration and coordination.”