The Biden administration bans the presidents of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from attending this year’s Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, United States. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announces that he will personally boycott the meeting in response to the ban, sending Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to represent him at the summit.

The Summit of the Americas (SOA) is an international summit meeting that brings together the leaders of countries in the Organization of American States (OAS). All countries have sent representatives to every meeting, except for Cuba which was expelled from the OAS under pressure from the United States after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Cuba participated in the 2015 summit in Panama, and sent its foreign minister to the subsequent 2018 summit in Peru. In the early 1990s, the formerly ad hoc summits were institutionalized into a regular “Summit of the Americas” based on the principles of democracy and free trade. The meetings, organized by a number of multilateral bodies led by the OAS, provide an opportunity for discussions about a variety of issues and topics.

“There can’t be a Summit of the Americas if not all countries of the American continent are taking part,” Lopez Obrador President of Mexico, said.

Photo Credit[TheChamp-GP-Comments]