The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, said this Monday that the exclusion by the United States of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba from the Summit of the Americas is a “mistake.” And he opined that this strategy “is not the way to go and has not given results historically.”
“When the United States tries to exclude certain countries, what it ultimately does is reinforce the position they have. We believe that it is a mistake and we are going to say it at the summit, without for a moment stopping raising our voice to defend human rights». In such a way, Boric affirmed it in a press conference from Ottawa.
Before going to Los Angeles to participate in the continental forum, the Chilean president traveled to Canada. There he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sign an agreement on gender equality.
«It cannot be that in our American continent the only thing that is talked regarding outside is only our disagreements with respect to two or three countries. We have many more issues in common, such as what we have presented today with Justin Trudeau, “said the former student leader.
Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua
The days leading up to this ninth edition of the Summit of the Americas have been marked by controversy over the guest list. Everything, following the United States announced its intention to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela by not considering their governments democratic.
After a few days of uncertainty, the Joe Biden administration chose to leave them out of the summit due to “the lack of democratic spaces and the human rights situation” in those three countries.
Several Latin American countries had already expressed their disagreement with that decision. And some leaders, as a form of protest, decided not to attend the summit. This is the case of the Bolivian Luis Arce and the Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who announced his refusal this Monday.
Boric at the Summit of the Americas
Unlike other leaders in the region who made their attendance at the summit subject to the participation of all hemispheric countries, Boric announced weeks ago that he would attend the event.
“We have said it ad nauseam, no one is going to save themselves, but we have to unite to be able to have better development in our nations,” stressed the Chilean leader, who this followingnoon will participate in a dialogue with high school students from Ottawa and then depart for Los Angeles.