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New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D) made the claim this week that the Mexican President Lopez Obrador tried to blackmail Joe Biden over the Summit of Americas.

Menendez was speaking to MSNBC when he made the assertion that the President of Mexico tried to force Joe Biden to accept socialist countries into the meeting.

“I think President López Obrador basically tried to blackmail President Biden into insisting countries that are not democratic, countries like Venezuela, Cuba, Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua, that are dictators and despots, should have been invited to the summit,” Menendez said.

Socialist nations Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua were all excluded from this year’s Summit. As a result, Mexico led a snub of the major commerce event meant to secure funding for Central and South American nations, choosing not to attend. They were joined in snubbing the invite by the nations of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Senator Menendez, who frequently clashes with the leaders of these countries and the President of Mexico, praised Biden’s decision, saying, “I applaud President Biden for upholding the standard of the Summit to be a summit of democracies.”

Mexican President Obrador took aim at Menendez for his negative opinions on Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua on Monday. He compared the New Jersey Senator’s stance to Republicans like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

“Those two gentlemen, I understand them better because they’re Republicans. But this gentleman, he’s in the Democratic Party,” Obrador said.

He then blamed Menendez for the bans on the socialist countries, adding, “Now, because of internal pressures, President Biden can’t invite everyone. Because of the influential senator, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, imagine that.”

Mexican President Obrador sparked more controversy this week when he announced his intentions to try and influence the 2022 US elections in favor of Democrats. He said he would direct Mexican Immigrants to vote against any party or candidate who speaks ill of the immigrants.

Lopez Obrador is the first ever Socialist Mexican President. He has openly stood by fellow socialists and pushed against capitalism. Do you think that Biden was right to ban those countries from the Summit of Americas? Should he ban Mexico next time, too?