U.S. Makes Final Call To Exclude Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua From Regional Summit

The White House has made a final decision against inviting government representatives of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to a regional summit this week, Bloomberg reports citing people familiar with the matter.

• "The U.S. made the call after weeks of discussions with governments from Latin America and the Caribbean, including Mexico's. [...] The U.S. has non-government representatives from all three countries registered to participate in stakeholder forums."
• Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been leading efforts to lobby the White House to invite representatives of the three governments to the summit. He said will skip the event if the Biden administration decides otherwise and leaders of other nations, such as Guatemala and Honduras, followed suit.
• Last-minute squabbles over the final guest list has been a diplomatic embarassment to the U.S. who are hosting the summit for the first time since its launch almost three decades ago.
• The IX Summit of the Americas will kick off in Los Angeles on Monday and wrap up on Friday. Discussions will focus on five areas: democratic governance, health and resilience to pandemics, clean energy, climate change and digital transformation.