MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - 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 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.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador withdrew because the United States said that not all countries in the Americas would be invited.
U.S. President Joe Biden aims to address regional migration and economic challenges at the summit. Lopez Obrador said he would meet Biden next month instead.
"Without that pressure, without that regrettable, embarrassing summit blackmail, (we) will talk in July," Lopez Obrador said on Tuesday at a regular news conference.
Other international groupings, such as the G20 and the United Nations, also have members not fully considered democracies by Western nations, foreign minister Ebrard said.
He will attend the summit in Lopez Obrador's place, and will push for the United States to end its embargo of Cuba, he told La Jornada newspaper.