MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Alberto Fernández will be Venezuela's voice at Los Angeles Summit, Maduro says

Maduro had been warning he had his tricks for Venezuela to be represented at the Summit

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro said Argentina's President would represent all those countries excluded from the Summit of the Americas starting Monday in Los Angeles, California.

“Alberto Fernández will be the voice of Venezuela at the Summit of the Americas,” said Maduro, who added the Celac pro tempore president will also be representing Cuba and Nicaragua, who were not invited due to the antidemocratic tint of their governments.

During a radio interview on Argentina's National University of Avellaneda (UNDAV) broadcasting service, Maduro thanked Fernández for his gesture at the meeting to be held from June 6 to 10.

”I think it is very good that he is bringing the voice of Latin America and the Caribbean to the meeting of the Americas (...) we are going to be well represented in the voice of President Alberto Fernandez,“ the Chavist leader pointed out. ”President Fernandez is a brave man, who defends what he believes in; and he is against exclusion,“ he added.

Faced with US President Joseph Biden's decision, Maduro insisted Venezuela's voice would be in the American conclave, ”whatever the host says“. ”Whatever they do in Washington, the voice of Venezuela, the voice of Cuba, and the voice of Nicaragua will arrive in Los Angeles in the great protests of the people and our voice will be in that room (...) we will be there with our truth,“ Maduro had warned on May 24 in Caracas.

In his radio appearance this weekend in the southern Buenos Aires show, Maduro joined the Presidents of Mexico and Bolivia saying that a Summit with exclusions was merely a meeting. ”It is a contradiction!“ Maduro said. ”That is not a summit; it is a meeting.“

In a recent appearance on the state-run Venezolana de Televisión, Maduro had said he had his ”tricks“ for his country to be represented in California, but released no other details. ”We have our tricks, I am not going to reveal any secret, but we will be there, we will be there“, said Maduro, while insisting that there will be ”surprises”.

While heads of state from Bolivia, Honduras, and Guatemala have already announced they would not be attending the event. Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has left a door open, it was reported.