File Photo: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a press conference in Mexico City, Mexico, July 1, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday he would not attend the US-hosted Summit of the Americas in June if all countries in the region were not invited, while Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is also likely to skip the meeting, sources told Reuters.

The absence of the leaders of Latin America's two biggest economies would be a blow for the get-together of regional heads of state, which is expected to tackle issues from migration to the environment but also showcase democracy in the hemisphere.

Mexico's leader, a leftist, has said he wants all the countries in the region to be invited. It is unclear whether the US will invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

"If they're excluded, if not all are invited, a representative from the Mexican government would go, but I wouldn't," Lopez Obrador said during his news conference on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Bolsonaro - a far-right leader who is an admirer of US President Joe Biden's predecessor Donald Trump and who has not yet spoken to Biden - has told his aides he won't be going, but gave no reason why, two people familiar with the matter said.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters the White House, as summit host, would determine who would be invited and the official invitations had not yet been issued.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday a final decision on who would be invited had not yet been made.

A person in Washington familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that Nicaragua had been informed that it would not be invited. 

Lopez Obrador emphasized his wish for Cuba to be invited while visiting the country Sunday, saying also he would continue to push for the US to lift its embargo against the island.

The Mexican president has criticized the US for not investing enough in Central America, which he argues is central to addressing the issue of mass migration from the region.

Reuters