WASHINGTON (June 6, 2022)Monday is the start of the Summit of the Americas meeting in Los Angeles, the first gathering of leaders from North, Central and South America in nine years. The leaders will discuss support for a free trade agreement stretching from Alaska to Patagonia. The Biden administration has decided to exclude the governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the summit due to their concerns about human rights and lack of democracy in the three countries. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he will not attend because of the exclusion of those countries and will send Mexico’s foreign minister in his place.

Diego Abente Brun is director of the Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs and is available for commentary on the Summit of the Americas.

Cynthia McClintock is a professor of political science and international affairs at the George Washington University and author of Electoral Rules and Democracy in Latin America. Ahead of the Summit she offered this analysis:

Unfortunately, Biden has been in a very difficult bind. He wants to prioritize democracy and human rights in the hemisphere (and the world) and, accordingly, does not want to invite Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. However, unexpectedly, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he would not attend if these countries were not invited. A Summit without Mexico is diminished. Biden needs carrots (or, hawks would say, sticks) to entice AMLO to the Summit, but he does not have them at the moment.