U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas a "total, absolute failure," says Venezuela's ruling party

CARACAS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The ninth Summit of the Americas, held in the United States last week, was a "total and absolute failure," Diosdado Cabello, first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, said on Monday.

"The summit collapsed," Cabello added during the party's weekly press conference in the capital Caracas.

According to Cabello, the regional gathering which took place in Los Angeles, in the western U.S. state of California, "was not a summit at all and will likely be the last, due to its failure, the disaster and the way it was handled."

The summit was set to fail from the start, when the United States decided not to invite Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, he said.

Washington's exclusion of the three countries led several heads of state and government to skip the summit in protest.