LATAM POLITICS TODAY-U.S. excludes Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua from Americas summit

The latest in LATAM politics today: Lopez Obrador's party is poised to gain a majority in most of Mexico's states

Mexico's ruling party was primed to capture four more state governments after elections on Sunday, preliminary results showed, strengthening President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's grip on power ahead of the contest to succeed him in 2024. Lopez Obrador's leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and its allies were set to win gubernatorial races in the states of Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Hidalgo, and Tamaulipas, according to preliminary vote counts by electoral authorities.

The U.S. excludes Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from Americas summit The Biden administration has made a final decision to exclude the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua from the Summit of the Americas, people familiar with the matter said, despite threats from Mexico's president to skip the gathering unless all countries in the Western Hemisphere were invited.

The decision, which followed weeks of intense deliberations, risks an embarrassing boycott of the U.S.-hosted gathering this week in Los Angeles if Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and some other leaders choose not to show up. U.S. officials determined that concerns about human rights and lack of democracy in the three countries, Washington's main antagonists in Latin America, weighed too heavily against inviting them, a Washington-based source said late on Sunday.