Obama reaches out to Cuba

PORT OF SPAIN, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack  Obama pledged yesterday to seek a “new beginning” in ties with  communist-ruled Cuba as part of a new era of U.S. partnership  and engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean.

US President Barack Obama shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at yesterday’s Summit of the Americas opening in Trinidad. The handshake was initiated by President Obama. (Pool photo via Trinidad Express)
US President Barack Obama shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at yesterday’s Summit of the Americas opening in Trinidad. The handshake was initiated by President Obama. (Pool photo via Trinidad Express)

Before addressing his counterparts in the hemisphere at the  Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, Obama also initiated  a handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of  Washington’s most virulent critics in the region.

“We cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past  disagreements,” Obama told the opening session of the summit  after entering the conference centre to warm applause.

Obama promised U.S. cooperation to help the region fight  the effects of the global economic crisis and confront the  challenges of climate change and insecurity posed by  drug-trafficking and kidnapping.

But he made a point of referring to Cuba, whose government  has been at ideological odds with Washington for half a century  following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.

“The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know  there is a longer journey that must be travelled in overcoming  decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take  toward a new day,” Obama said in his address.

“Over the past two years, I have indicated — and I repeat  today — that I am prepared to have my administration engage  with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues — from  human rights, free speech and democratic reform to drugs,  migration and economic issues,” he added.

His speech before 33 other leaders from the hemisphere came  a day after Cuban President Raul Castro had said his government  was ready to talk about “everything” with the United States,  including political prisoners and press freedom.

Earlier this week, Obama relaxed parts of the 47-year-old  U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, and the conciliatory signals  from both sides have raised hopes across the hemisphere of a  historic rapprochement between Washington and Havana.

Cuba is excluded from the Trinidad meeting of 34 leaders,  and in the past has angrily rejected any attempt to link an  improvement in ties with Washington with internal reform.

Regional heads of state, from Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da  Silva to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, have called on Obama to end  the long-standing U.S. embargo against Cuba.

Obama’s handshake with Chavez also heralded a possible  improvement in ties with one of the most important oil  suppliers to the United States. Under conservative President  George W. Bush, Chavez emerged as a voluble leader of pro-Cuba  left-wing presidents and critics of Washington’s policies.

“I want to be your friend,” a beaming Chavez told the U.S.  president, and photographs of the encounter were quickly  distributed by the Venezuelan presidency.

“We shook hands like gentlemen; it was obvious it was going  to happen,” Chavez told reporters later. “President Obama is an  intelligent man, different from the previous one.”

A senior U.S. official said Obama went over to Chavez to  introduce himself and they shook hands.

Asked later by reporters what he had said to Chavez, Obama  replied: “I said, ‘Como estas?’“ — Spanish for “How are you?”

Before he spoke at the opening session, Obama heard other  speakers at the session, including Argentine President Cristina  Fernandez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, call  forcefully for an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

In his rambling speech to the opening session, former  guerrilla leader Ortega said he was “ashamed” to be attending a  summit at which Cuba was not present.

In response, Obama, who earlier also shook hands with  Ortega, departed from his prepared remarks to say: “I think it  is important to recognize, given the historic suspicions, that  the United States policy should not be interference in other  countries.”

“But that also means that we can’t blame the United States  for every problem that arises in the hemisphere … That is the  old way, we need a new way,” he added.

In his address, Obama also promised to work with countries  in the hemisphere to help the region confront the recession,  stimulate economic growth and create jobs.

He also announced a new initiative to invest $30 million to  strengthen cooperation on security in the Caribbean.

Before Obama landed in Port of Spain, White House spokesman  Robert Gibbs called on Cuba to free political prisoners.

Hours before the start of the Americas summit, Venezuela’s  Chavez and a group of like-minded leftist leaders, including  Cuba’s Raul Castro and Ortega, rejected the proposed draft  declaration of the meeting.

They said the meeting offered no solutions to the economic  crisis and “unjustifiably excluded Cuba.”