by Nelson Acosta

HAVANA (Reuters) – A bloc of left-wing countries meeting in Havana on Friday condemned the exclusion of some countries from next month’s Summit of the Americas after the United States said it only wanted the presence of democracy-respecting government leaders.

The United States will host the Summit of the Americas to be held in Los Angeles on June 6-10 and said it would not invite Venezuela and Nicaragua, while the summit coordinator said it would be up to the White House to decide whether to invite Cuba.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said this week that he would not appear “under any circumstances” even if invited.

Ten countries known as the Alba bloc, including Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, issued a statement from Havana stating that they “rejected the exceptions and discriminatory treatment at the so-called Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles”.

They also described the exclusion as “arbitrary, ideological and politically motivated”, stating that “this unilateral decision constitutes a serious historical setback in hemisphere relations”.

In an earlier broadcast speech, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called the upcoming summit “irregular” and praised a group of nations led by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador who “raised the voice of truth from an entire continent”.

The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Mexican president, along with the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Guatemala and Honduras, threatened to boycott the summit if certain countries were excluded.

This week, Reuters confirmed that 13 of the 14 countries in the Caribbean community that do not include Cuba are planning to attend the Los Angeles meeting.

President Jair Bolsonaro has confirmed that he will attend the summit.