Summary – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated tuesday he wouldn’t attend the Summit of the Americas, which will be hosted in the US next month, if they do not invite all countries in the Americas. Reuters’ sources also say that Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro will not be attending. This is amid uncertainty whether the US will invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, who are all currently governed by authoritarian administrations. The summit is expected to tackle many issues and showcase democracy. The official invitations have not been given yet.
Analysis – I do not find it surprising that Mexico is suggesting they may not attend, as Lopez Obrador has been critical of the US in recent weeks as he presses for the US to end sanctions on Cuba. Mexico-US relations have also been worsening over the Russio-Ukrainian war, despite their cooperation in immigration enforcement. Nicaragua’s president is also in the midst of alleged election fraud claims, so the US is somewhat expected to be declining to invite the president.
This relates to international relations because large summits like these often contain a lot of discussion about policy and future procedures in issues of the environment and migration. It is important to analyze the relations between the US, Mexico, and Brazil, because they are superpowers in their region who are also very close trade partners.