How the United States approaches Cuba and Venezuela to save the Summit of the Americas

the president of USAJoe Biden, decided to relax the sanctions against Cuba Y Venezuela at a time when part of the region has criticized his government for not inviting those two countries to the next Summit of the Americas.

When there is less than a month to go before the appointment, which must bring together Heads of State and Government of the region in The Angels from June 6 to 10, Biden tries to avoid a possible boycott orchestrated by the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obradorand to which other leaders would join.

LOOK: The United States authorizes investment in private business in Cuba for the first time in 60 years

The Biden Administration announced on Monday the reestablishment of commercial flights to Cuba beyond Havana, the abolition of the limit on the sending of remittances and the recovery of a family reunification program, being the first steps in the opening towards the island that he promised in the electoral campaign.

Only one day later, on Tuesday, reported that it will lift some economic sanctions against Venezuela, including the ban on the US oil company Chevron from negotiating with the state-owned PDVSA, in exchange for the reactivation of the dialogue between the Government of Nicolás Maduro and the opposition, which took place in Ciudad de Mexico.

The US had been working on these announcements for months and decided to make them public at a time when the Summit of the Americas, in which Biden wants to promote a regional migratory pact, entered a crisis due to the White House’s decision not to invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

LOOK: Cuba says easing of US sanctions is “a limited step in the right direction”

The first to raise his voice, in addition to those excluded themselves, was the Mexican López Obrador, who announced his absence at the summit if all the countries of America are not invited, a position to which the Bolivian later joined. Louis Arce.

The Caribbean Community (Caricom), which has 15 members, has also questioned its participation for the same reason, and has pointed to pressure from the United States to change its mind.

While the presidents of Argentina, Alberto Fernández; from Chile, Gabriel Boric; and from Honduras, Xiomara Castro, have not ruled out their participation, but they have demanded that no one be excluded from the conclave.

Although for other reasons, the Guatemalan president, Alexander Giammattei, he said he will not go, after the State Department criticized the re-election of the country’s attorney general; and the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro is still weighing the assistance of him.

After the announcements about Cuba and VenezuelaChristopher Dodd, Biden’s adviser for the summit, met this Wednesday by videoconference with López Obrador, in an attempt to bring positions closer together.

When finished, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard explained that the President of Mexico reiterated his position that “all the countries of the continent should be invited, without excluding anyone.”

The truth is the White House has not yet sent the invitations to the summitas confirmed this Wednesday at a press conference by the spokesperson for the US government, Karine Jean-Pierre.

But weeks ago the undersecretary for Latin America, Brian Nichols, said that he did not expect the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to be invited because, in his opinion, they did not meet the minimum democratic requirements.

Some senators have already raised their voices against the gesture of Biden to Havana and Caracas, including Democrat Bob Menéndez, president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Upper House and influential in Latin American politics.

In a press conference, Menéndez demanded on Tuesday that the relaxation of sanctions not be the prelude to the invitation of Cuba Y Venezuela to the June appointment, since then “it would no longer be a summit of democracies”.

Parallel, Biden tries to ensure the participation of his closest allies to the summit, such as Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, whom he called last night to address the issue.

Precisely, the first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, began a tour of Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama on Wednesday to finish fine-tuning the details of the summit.

Source: Elcomercio

Deshawn