Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Tuesday accused the United States of double standards by refusing to invite Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas while engaging with non-democratic governments in Southeast Asia.
“The so-called democratic clause is not applied equally in all cases, but only in some, when it is convenient,” Ebrard wrote in a column published in the Mexican newspaper Excelsior, pointing to Washington’s relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and forming the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in May.
Ebrard called the U.S. decision “inconsistent, if not contradictory.” Among ASEAN’s members are Myanmar, ruled by a military junta, and one-party Communist-ruled Vietnam.
The United States chose not to invite the leftist leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Communist-ruled Cuba to this week’s Americas gathering in Los Angeles, citing concerns of a lack of democracy in their countries, a senior U.S. official said.
Source: Excelsior
