President Barack Obama’s biggest upcoming diplomatic challenge in Latin America will be whether to attend the 34-country Summit of the Americas alongside Cuban leader Raúl Castro, who has been invited by the host country — Panama — over US objections. I think Obama should go, and do something really bold there.
Before we get into what exactly Obama should do, let’s recall that the United States opposes Cuba’s participation at this meeting because the 2001 Summit of the Americas in Quebec agreed by consensus that “strict respect for the democratic system” is an “essential condition of our presence at this and future summits.”
But Panama, which will host the summit in April 2015, has said it will invite Cuba at the request
