Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Sunday said he’ll call on U.S. President Joe Biden to include Cuba in the upcoming Summit of the Americas.
“No country in the Americas should be excluded,” Lopez Obrador said, referring to the Organization of American States’ meeting to be held in Los Angeles June 8-10. “It should be up to each country’s authorities to decide freely whether to attend or not.”
Lopez Obrador, also known as AMLO, said he will also “insist” the U.S. lift economic sanctions on Cuba as it hampers development. The continent should work on developing an association similar to the European Union, he said, and called on the OAS to be substituted for a truly “autonomous” entity that mediates human rights and democracy issues.
Cuba is an OAS member but has been excluded from events such as the one being held next month since 1962 for “incompatibility with the principles and objectives of the system,” according to the OAS website.
Lopez Obrador was speaking from Havana, where he received the Jose Marti award, during a tour across Central America and the Caribbean.
