A key meeting for leaders from across the Americas has been shelved until next year, as U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and near South America’s Pacific coast intensify tensions with Venezuela and divide the region.

The Dominican Republic had been set to host the 2025 Summit of the Americas, but its foreign ministry cited “deep differences of opinion” as the reason for the postponement without going into further detail.

Over the past couple of months, the region has been roiled by a series of deadly U.S. air strikes on boats off Venezuela’s Caribbean coast as well as more recently near Colombia’s Pacific coast, stretching as far north as international waters closer to Mexico.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio weighed in later on Monday, praising the Dominican Republic for its willingness to serve as host.

“We fully support the decision to postpone the summit and will continue to work together,” Rubio wrote in a post.

In October, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were barred from the summit, with the Dominican Republic arguing at the time that the trio of U.S. foes would be excluded in order to prioritize a successful meeting.

In 2018, President Donald Trump skipped the summit and it had been unclear if he would do so again in this year’s event set for December.

Trump has argued that U.S. attacks in the Caribbean are targeting what his government calls “narco-terrorists” involved in illicit drug trafficking, but without providing any evidence. Critics of the policy, including Colombian President Gustavo Petro, have slammed the strikes as murder, triggering extra sanctions from Trump.

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