MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday urged his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, to organize the upcoming Summit of the Americas without exclusions.
In a phone conversation with Biden, Lopez Obrador confirmed his country's participation in the event, while proposing "that all the countries of the Americas receive an invitation, without excluding anyone," the Mexican presidency said in a statement.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday that Lopez Obrador planned to urge that the summit should be inclusive, after Cuba voiced its concern on the U.S. plan to exclude it from the summit.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on Monday said Washington was exerting "extreme pressure" on regional governments that oppose the exclusion of Cuba, which participated in the previous two summits at the request of several regional countries following years of exclusion.
The Summits of the Americas are periodic meetings of regional heads of state and government to address diplomatic and trade issues of importance at the continental level. This year's session is to be held in the U.S. city of Los Angeles from June 6 to 10.
Its first edition was held in Miami in 1994, and since then the event has been accused of excluding countries with political ideologies different from that of the United States, such as Cuba and Venezuela. ■