The Government of the United States, abusing the privilege granted by its status as host country, decided early to exclude Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the IX Summit of the Americas, to be held in the city of Los Angeles this June. It refused to attend to the just demands of many governments to change this discriminatory and unacceptable position.

There is no single reason that justifies the undemocratic and arbitrary exclusion of any country in the hemisphere from that continental event. It is something that the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean have warned about since the VI Summit held in Cartagena de Indias, in 2012.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez announced on May 25 that he would not attend. It was a firm decision for Cuba if not all the countries of the hemisphere were invited on an equal footing.

Between arrogance, the fear that uncomfortable truths will be heard, the effort to prevent the meeting from deliberating on the most urgent and complex issues in the hemisphere. Moreover, the very contradictions of its weak and polarized political system, the US government once again opted for the exclusion as a resource to try to achieve an event without concrete contributions, but beneficial for the image of imperialism.

The intense high-level negotiations carried out by the United States with governments in the region are known, to contain the intention of many to be absent from the event if not all were invited. These included immoral pressure, blackmail, threats and dirty tricks. They are habitual practices of imperialism that reflect its traditional contempt for our countries. They deserve the strongest rejection.

Cuba appreciates and respects the worthy, courageous and legitimate position of numerous governments in defense of the participation of all, under equal conditions.

The leadership of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador deserves special recognition. We highlight the clear and early attitude of the CARICOM member countries against exclusions, as well as the firm position of Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora and Honduran President Xiomara Castro. Argentina's position as president of CELAC expresses the majority opinion in the region against a selective summit, as numerous governments in South and Central America have expressed in public and in private.

That genuine and spontaneous solidarity, in the face of the discriminatory action of the United States against countries in the region, reflects the feelings of the peoples of Our America. The United States underestimated the support for Cuba in the region, while trying to impose its unilateral and universally rejected policy of hostility towards Cuba, as if it were a consensual position in the hemisphere, but the debate on the invitation process proved otherwise.

The XXI Summit of ALBA held in Havana on May 27, unequivocally marked the repudiation of exclusions and discriminatory and selective treatment.

Exclusions of this nature confirm that the United States conceived and uses this high-level dialogue mechanism as an instrument of its hegemonic system in the hemisphere, in the style of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR ) and other entities conceived in the 20th century to restrict independence, limit the sovereignty of the nations of the region and impede the aspirations of Latin American and Caribbean unity and integration.

They are part of the effort to apply the Monroe Doctrine and promote exclusion as a weapon of division, based on clear political, electoral and domination interests.

One cannot speak of "The Americas" without covering all the countries that make up the hemisphere. What our region demands is cooperation, not exclusion; solidarity, not pettiness; respect, not arrogance; sovereignty and self-determination, not subordination.

It is known in advance that the documents that are intended to be adopted in Los Angeles are divorced from the real problems of the region and are in reality useless and ignored, beyond the effort to grant the OAS a supranational prerogative to decide on the legitimacy or not of the electoral processes and by the imposition on Latin American and Caribbean governments of repressive, discriminatory and exclusionary conduct against migrants.

We know that the voice of Latin America and the Caribbean, as in the past, will resonate in those days in Los Angeles, with the admirable and vertical absence of fundamental leaders who have enormous political and moral authority and are recognized by their peoples and the world.

We also have full confidence that the leaders of the region who decide to go will know how to justify with dignity that the United States cannot treat our peoples the way it did in the 20th century.

Cuba supports genuine efforts to promote integration based on civilized coexistence, peace, respect for diversity, and solidarity throughout the hemisphere. It has a widely recognized endorsement of unreservedly supporting and contributing to any legitimate proposal for real and concrete solutions to the most pressing problems suffered by our peoples. The reality that is presented to us today is far from those desires.

(Taken from Cubaminrex)