NYT: Mexican and Brazilian leaders’ boycott of Summit of the Americas will deal Biden a humiliating blow

The possible refusal to come to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles by presidents of Mexico and Brazil Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Jair Bolsonaro would be a humiliating blow to their colleague from Washington, Joe Biden, said the New York Times.

As the publication notes, the event, conceived by the U.S. administration as a demonstration of resurgent U.S. leadership in the Western Hemisphere, threatens serious reputational losses for the White House and could highlight Washington’s weakness in the region.

“A growing number of Latin American and Caribbean heads of state are thinking of boycotting — including the presidents of the region’s two largest countries, Mexico and Brazil. This threatens the White House with a humiliating blow,” says the newspaper.

According to the newspaper, earlier Washington had announced that representatives of Cuba and presidents of Venezuela and Nicaragua would not be invited to the summit. It was this decision that caused the criticism of the head of Mexico.

“If there are exceptions, if not everyone is invited, the Mexican government delegation will go, but I personally will not,” the NYT quoted López Obrador.

The leaders of Bolivia, Honduras and a group of Caribbean states also joined his position.

The problems between the Biden administration and the Brazilian president are related to Washington’s criticism of Bolsonaro’s political course, the publication explains, and the South American country may fear that the U.S. will use the summit to put pressure on Brasilia.

“The impression today is that Bolsonaro may not go to Los Angeles, and the summit is not on his agenda at all,” the NYT writes, citing a source.

According to the newspaper, the absence of the Brazilian leader threatens to undermine progress on such important topics for the Biden administration as climate change and democracy protection, and without the Mexican president, it will be much more difficult to solve migration issues.

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