PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Leonardo Flores | 202-840-4292 | [email protected]
Jodie Evans | 310-621-5635 | [email protected]
BLOCK PARTIES NOT BLOCKADES: CODEPINK says WELCOME to the SUMMIT OF EXCLUSION (aka Summit of the Americas)
Los Angeles, June 9 — At 9:30 AM CODEPINK will held an impromptu block party in front of the Los Angeles Convention Center to highlight the exclusion of the Summit of the Americas hosted by the United States.
Dubbed the Summit of Exclusion due to the Biden administration’s refusal to invite Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, the event has exposed itself for the attempts to control while using the word democracy. In response to this exclusion, the heads of state of Mexico, Bolivia, Honduras and St. Vincent and the Grenadines formally boycotted the event. Guatemala, El Salvador, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, and Uruguay also failed to send their heads of state.
As Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the President of Mexico said, "There cannot be a summit of the Americas if all the countries of the American continent do not participate. Or there can be, but...it is just the continuation of the old policy of interventionism or disrespect of nations and their peoples."
“This isn’t a Summit of the Americas, it’s a summit of countries bullied, bribed and begged to attend by a Biden administration that has no clear vision for its relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. Biden talks about democracy, yet he continues financing organizations dedicated to regime change. Biden talks about human rights, yet he is currently preparing for a trip to Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, he blockades the people of Cuba and Venezuela, and sanctions the people of Nicaragua,” said CODEPINK Latin America campaign coordinator Leonardo Flores.
CODEPINK symbolically represented the missing countries and held a block party breakfast with music, dancing, and visuals including empty chairs with the flags of the countries excluded and those who boycotted in solidarity to celebrate the joy and love that should embody U.S. - Latin America relations.
