Cuba Returns to the Old Story of “Competing” with the US

and launches its own summit

Washington has not expressed the last word on who will be invited to the upcoming Summit of the Americas, to be held from June 6 to 10 in Los Angeles, California

By Cubaencuentro

HAVANA TIMES – Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, countries that the United States has not invited to the upcoming Summit of the Americas, will meet on Friday in Havana at the highest level within the framework of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Cuban Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday.

“On Friday, May 27, the XXI Summit of Heads of State and Government” of ALBA will be held in Havana, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a brief statement.

During the conclave, the leaders of the countries that make up ALBA will address “common development strategies and analyze the regional political situation.”

Born in 2004 as a response to the Free Trade Area of the Americas, promoted by Washington, ALBA promotes regional integration without the United States.

It is currently made up of Venezuela, the country that promoted the bloc under the presidency of the late Hugo Chavez, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Grenada.

Washington has not expressed the last word on who will be invited to its Summit of the Americas, to be held June 6-10 in Los Angeles, California.

However, since January the Biden administration has indicated that a “commitment to democracy” would be “a key factor in who is invited and who is not.” The US did not expect the presence of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, given that “they do not respect” the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in force since 2001.

Meanwhile, the presidents of Mexico, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, as well as others from the Caribbean Community, have said that they will not go if all the countries of the region are not invited.

Other nations such as Argentina and Chile have called for no exclusions.

From Caracas, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Carlos Faria said Tuesday on his Twitter account that he had met with ALBA’s executive secretary, Sacha Llorenti. The meeting was “to review the joint work agenda with the intention of continuing to advance along a strengthened route that contributes to consolidating the sovereignty and autonomy of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said.

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