Venezuelan president slams US for excluding countries from Americas Summit

CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday condemned the United States for excluding Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the upcoming Summit of the Americas to be held June 6-10 in Los Angeles of US state of California.

Maduro expressed his government's "firm, strong and total rejection of the imperialist vision that intends to exclude the peoples of the Americas" from a regional gathering.

The Venezuelan president is in Cuba's capital Havana for the 21st Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People's Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP), which took place Friday.

In contrast to Washington's handling of the Americas Summit, the ALBA-TCP is inclusive and uniting, and works on issues that impact people's lives and development in the region, he said.

"If there is anything truly democratic on this continent, it is ALBA, from the point of view of its debates and the sharing of diversity," Maduro stressed.

On Thursday, US coordinator of the Americas Summit Kevin O'Reilly reiterated that the governments of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, all members of ALBA-TCP, had not been invited to participate in the meeting.