MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he will meet on Wednesday with a delegation of organizers of the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas, to explain why his government wants all countries in the region to take part.
Speaking at a news conference, Lopez Obrador said the United States’ Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, would take part in the talks.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said in a tweet that the Special Advisor for the Summit of the Americas, Christopher Dodd, charged with organizing the event to be held in Los Angeles next month, also will attend.
The leftist president announced the visit of the delegation after saying Ebrard would speak with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later on Monday.
Lopez Obrador has said he will not attend the summit unless the United States invites all the countries in the Americas. He has been particularly insistent that Cuba be should be there.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel told lawmakers in a televised speech on Monday afternoon that a “country incapable of accommodating everyone should be disqualified as serving as host,” referring to the United States and the Summit of the Americas.
“Whoever assumes the commitment to host a hemispheric meeting must have the ability and courage to listen to everyone from the Arctic to Patagonia,” Diaz-Canel said.
Other Latin American leaders have made similar statements, or backed the thrust of Lopez Obrador’s position.
However, a senior U.S. official said last month that Cuba, Nicaragua and the government of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro were unlikely to be invited to the summit.
Lopez Obrador said the United States had not ruled out that all countries in the Americas could take part, noting that formal invitations had not yet been sent out.
(Reporting by Dave Graham in Mexico CityAdditional reporting by Dave Sherwood in HavanaWriting by Kylie MadryEditing by Bill Berkrot and Matthew Lewis)
