USA He would “definitely” attend a future Summit of the Americas, to which the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are invited, as long as it is not on US territory, assured Juan González, the main adviser for Latin America to President Joe Biden.
In an interview with EFE at the end of the IX Summit of the Americas in The Angels, González defended Biden’s controversial decision to exclude those three countries with the argument that Washington is willing to talk with them, but inviting their leaders to the United States would have been a “contradiction.”
We have seen very harsh statements from leaders such as those of Argentina and Belize, who have considered the exclusions of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua unacceptable. How have the private conversations on this subject been during the summit? Has there been a little progress in the disagreements?
The community of democracies of the region are gathered here, covered by the press in a transparent way, debating these issues, as it should be; and it is something that the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan community, are rights that they do not enjoy. That is a very important point to highlight. The second is that, the minute the cameras were turned off, the conversation very quickly turned to the challenges that the region is facing, not only economic but also inequality (…) which has been the focus of the summit. In the conversations, even in the retreat of the leaders, there was a bit of talk regarding Cuba. No one spoke of Nicaragua. But very quickly the focus turned to what we can do together to meet the challenges.
Do you think this might have been fixed by inviting only Cuba? Mexico’s relationship with Cuba is especially important, and the presence of Cuba is an issue that was discussed at the other summits and that seemed to have already been resolved for the one in Panama in 2015.
I understand that, but in 2001, the OAS member countries reached an agreement that only countries that were supporters of the Democratic Charter would be invited. The most important thing is that, how can we invite a country when they are putting people in jail just for singing and begging for food? You can’t reconcile that kind of (things with an) invitation. It does not mean that we are not going to talk with Cuba, because we have changed our policy, we are willing to have talks with Cuba, we support a dialogue in Venezuela, we have tried to talk with Nicaragua, but that is very different from inviting them here. The president (Biden) talks with (his Russian counterpart, Vladimir) Putin, he has talked with Putin regarding the invasion of Ukraine, but he is not going to invite him to Washington.
And wouldn’t he invite to Washington, for example, the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, with whom Biden plans to meet on a possible visit to Saudi Arabia? Why can there be a relationship with some authoritarian leaders, and not with others?
They are ‘apples and oranges’ (situations that cannot be compared). We are going to talk to all kinds of leaders in order to advance our interests. When it comes to advocating for human rights, communicating our concerns… we are going to talk regarding that face to face. But that’s one thing and inviting them to Washington (or Los Angeles) is another, especially when we’re having a summit where we’re talking regarding how we can respond to the needs of our people. How are you going to respond to the needs of our people if you put people in jail and give them sentences of 30, 40 years just for singing? That is a contradiction that for us is too much.
And if there is a future Summit of the Americas in another country, outside of the United States, and the current leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua are still in power, would the United States attend that summit?
Definitely. We are not going to run away from this conversation. The difference is to invite us as host to a country that is not respecting the fundamental rights of its own people. Inviting them here, for the president, was a decision that, seeing the images of what the (Cuban) regime did following July 11 of last year, and the sentence to young people under 18, to singers… That is very difficult to justify inviting someone (like that) here, to a summit that we are presiding over.
Just as he has met with Putin, who is now going to meet with the Saudi crown prince, would Biden be willing to meet with the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, or with the Venezuelan Nicolás Maduro, outside the United States, if is that the logic?
The United States is always open to dialogue, and if it’s something that goes up to the level of the president, obviously he would consider it; but right now we are focused on a policy that supports the Cuban people while imposing a cost on human rights abuse, supporting a dialogue that is led by Venezuelans, seeking a return to democratic order in Nicaragua. All this is not us imposing our will, it is advocating for the rights of the same people in these countries, so that they are the ones who have the right to determine the future of their country.
Has it been agreed where the next Summit of the Americas will be? Would it be in 2025?
Not yet. There are countries that are debating it. It would be in three years.
The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, has invited Biden to the next CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summit. Will President Biden go to that summit?
Any request from a leader is something that we will consider very seriously, and also any integration effort in Latin America and the Caribbean is something that advances our interests for us. We’ll see, it’s something we’re going to study.
