If you took a Spanish class in high school, then you probably remember hearing "mi casa es su casa," or "my home is your home."  It's one of those wonderful expressions of friendship in the Spanish language.

Well, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as AMLO, has told President Biden that he is not coming to the party.  The official excuse is that Cuba was not invited.  The real reason is anyone's guess, and the subject of much conversation just south of the border.

No matter the reason, it is a blow to President Biden.  This is from Al Jazeera:

Aileen Teague, a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute, argued in May that "the Biden administration will lose political capital if it allows its growing tendency to divide the world into 'democratic' friends and 'authoritarian' states to dictate the invitation list for a forum that is much larger than Washington's professed policy objectives, however laudable they may be.

"A summit with critical partners missing would also deliver a huge blow to Biden's attempts to find solutions to US domestic problems that range from border security to immigration flows to the rise in oil and gas prices," she wrote.

Others have noted that the willingness of some countries to threaten boycotts underlines the waning influence of Washington in the region, which has increasingly turned to China, currently Latin America's second largest trading partner after the US.

Waning influence of Washington?  I thought we were all going to get along now that we got rid of President Trump.

Who knows for sure why AMLO decided to pick a fight with Biden at this time?

One friend in Mexico told me that AMLO knows he can push Biden around, and this is why Mexico is not stopping the caravan.

Another friend said AMLO is playing the "yankee" card to consolidate his own political standing at home.  Let's not forget that Mexico is a bitterly divided country.

Who knows?  We do know that AMLO is not coming, and that's a blow to the Summit.

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