Nicaraguan President 'Not Interested' in Attending Summit of the Americas 'Spectacle' - Report

President Ortega’s repudiation of the OAS event highlights growing anti-imperialist tendencies pushing Latin America away from the US and towards regional integration.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said his country isn’t interested in participating in the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles as the OAS-sponsored event in June draws closer.

"We are not interested in being at that summit," Ortega reportedly said on Wednesday. "This summit does not dignify anyone–rather, it dirties them, it sullies them,” the president noted, describing the “spectacle” being put on by the “Yankees” as “a disgrace.”

"We Latin Americans have to defend ourselves so that they respect us… Let’s not forget that we have CELAC,” Ortega argued, describing the Community of American and Caribbean States as “a powerful instrument” to assert the region’s independence outside the purview of “the European Union, the United States and Canada.”

Who, exactly, will attend the summit remains an open question, after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obredor announced last month that he would skip the event if Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Cuba were excluded. After Bolivian President Luis Arce and Honduran President Xiomara Castro quickly signaled their agreement, and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro indicated he would skip the event as well, the US was forced to send a presidential envoy to Mexico to attempt to salvage the upcoming summit, according to US government-sponsored outlet NPR.

This week, US President Joe Biden has made several moves widely understood to be an effort to push AMLO to reconsider his pledge to stand in solidarity with neighboring countries. After moving to undo some of the anti-Cuba sanctions imposed by his predecessor on Monday, Biden removed a number of sanctions on Venezuela which have prevented the Caribbean nation from processing and selling oil.

Regarding his concerns about “excluding” other Latin American nations, AMLO reportedly said Thursday that he expects to hear back from the US sometime this week. But with a number of observers noting that it's unlikely Biden would be willing to back down after being publicly challenged by the Mexican president, it looks increasingly likely that President Ortega won’t be the only one skipping the show.