Mexico’s president snubs Joe Biden’s invitation to summit

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday that

he will not attend this week’s Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles,

after President Biden declined to extend invitations to three

authoritarian countries in the Western Hemisphere — Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The snub by America’s southern neighbor, two days before Biden lands in California,

is a blow to Biden’s effort to assert regional leadership and address issues ranging from climate change to immigration.

While the announcement was not a complete surprise, the White House

had been hoping López Obrador, one of the region’s most prominent leaders, would attend the gathering.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said officials