Summit Americas
Recent Stories Archive
Obama wins praise at Americas Summit
US President Barack Obama on Saturday won praise for offering a closer partnership with the Americas, even from left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who moved to restore normal ties with Washington. The warm reception for Mr Obama contrasted with the Summit of the Americas four years ago in Argentina, where leftists like Mr Chavez attacked the "imperialist" policies of former President George W. Bush. After speaking with Mr Obama, Mr Chavez, a standard-bearer for anti-US sentiment in Latin America, named a former foreign minister as his envoy to Washington in a move to restore relations between his Opec nation and the United States. But Mr Obama, attending his first Summit of the Americas, came under pressure from Latin American and Caribbean leaders to lift the US trade embargo against communist-ruled Cuba. Brazil joined Venezuela and Caribbean nations in applauding Mr Obama's new approach, but the friendly atmosphere was tempered by repeated calls for Washington to do more to end its half-century-old ideological conflict with Cuba.
Americas summit ends amid hopes for US-Cuba ties
A Summit of the Americas bringing together US President Barack Obama and Latin American leaders in Trinidad and Tobago will end on Sunday amid hopes that the United States and Cuba might be on their way to burying a half-century of hostility. It also produced a US government pledge to "work" toward normalizing relations with Venezuela on a full ambassadorial level. The optimism sprang from surprise overtures from Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in recent days, with each saying separately they wanted historic talks on issues previously kept off-limits by Havana, including human rights and political prisoners.
Those developments were pushed along by a general consensus among Latin American nations that the 47-year-old US embargo on Cuba should be scrapped and the communist island readmitted into regional bodies. But while Obama earned praise for expressing a desire to "engage" Cuba and launch a "new beginning" with it -- and with the rest of Latin America -- summit participants highlighted the fact that Castro had been excluded from the gathering. That absence, and the lack of any mention of the global financial crisis in a draft final declaration, prompted several left-wing nations led by Venezuela to say they could boycott the signing of a summit text.
Harper encouraged by positive Americas summit
Rational discussion defeated "ideological diatribes," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said at Sunday's close of the Summit of Americas, which was hailed a success despite a boycott of the final communique by a socialist bloc of countries. "Based on what I was anticipating when I arrived here, I wasn't so sure that we would want another summit," Harper said Sunday. Host Prime Minister Patrick Manning said Sunday "there was not unanimity, but there was consensus" in the leaders' final statement. The leftist bloc of countries led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez refused to sign the summit's final declaration in part to protest the continued exclusion of Cuba from the Organization of American States. But Chavez did not repeat his fiery anti-American rhetoric from the last summit.
Chavez effect creates bestseller
A book which the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez presented to US President Barack Obama at the Americas summit has become a bestseller in just two days. The book, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, was ranked 54,295 on the sales charts of bookseller Amazon.com. Now, it has risen to number two. Written by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, the book looks at the impact of foreign intervention in Latin America in the past five centuries. It covers the continent's conquest by the Spanish nearly 500 years ago right up to the present day. President Chavez presented his American counterpart with the book, a favourite of leftists, on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad on Saturday.
Summit of the Americas' declaration adopted without unanimous approval
Despite the overall positive outcome of the fifth Summit of the Americas, leaders attending the meeting did not put their signature Sunday to the final declaration due to reservations over some elements of the document. Leaders decided to "adopt the Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain" and delegate to the summit's host, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning, the act of signing the document. "The declaration itself did not have the complete approval of all 34 countries. Some countries had reservations about some elements, and that is understandable," said Manning, without going into details. "And therefore, what we agreed to do today is to adopt the document, and in adopting it, we have recognized that there was no unanimity, even though there was a deep consensus."
Obama heads to Americas summit with Cuba focus
After backing Mexico's ongoing battle against drug cartels, President Barack Obama is heading to a Western Hemisphere summit with a sudden spotlight on Cuba. The president is to fly Friday to the island of Trinidad for the 34-nation Summit of the Americas, a gathering to which Cuba, as the region's only non-democracy, is not invited. Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, a staunch ally of Cuba's communist government, vowed to torpedo a final summit communique in protest of the country's exclusion. But Obama's move this week to ease travel and some other restrictions for Cuban-Americans brought an unprecedented reply from Havana. Raul Castro, who took over from his ailing brother, Fidel, a year ago, offered to talk to the Obama administration about all outstanding grievances.
Americas leaders head for summit
Leaders from across the Americas are gathering for a summit which will see most of them meeting US President Barack Obama for the first time. The global economic crisis and US-Cuban relations are expected to dominate the summit in Trinidad and Tobago....It is unlikely that the US president, after just three months in office, will be announcing any major policy shifts - even on Cuba - or new detailed proposals for US-Latin American relations...
Obama 'to star' at Americas summit
Many leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean are meeting US President Barack Obama for the first time at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. There is no doubt he will be the star of the show. But analysts say it is unlikely that the US president, after just three months in office, will be announcing any major policy shifts - even on Cuba - or new detailed proposals for US-Latin American relations. Rather he will be keen to show Latin American leaders a new tone of listening to the concerns of the region and to offer a more multilateral and respectful approach....
Latin American Leaders Aim to Redefine Relationship With United States
When President George W. Bush traveled to Argentina four years ago for a gathering of Latin American leaders, protesters smashed windows, looted stores and sang anti-Bush slogans. Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president, drew 25,000 to a soccer stadium to rail against the United States’ free trade policies. The summit meeting was a qualified fiasco for Mr. Bush and a low ebb for relations between the United States and Latin America. Now President Obama is planning to visit Trinidad and Tobago this weekend for the fifth Summit of the Americas, with a chance to dim memories of the last such meeting and re-engage with Latin America, a region that took a distant back seat to the Iraq conflict during the Bush years. But Latin American leaders are seeking more than re-engagement. They are looking to redefine the relationship....
President Obama and the Summit of the Americas
President Barack Obama will travel to Mexico and then to the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad, beginning on April 16th. He would do well to remember Ronald Reagan's seemingly obvious but fundamentally important comment on returning from his first trip to South America as President: "These Latin American countries are all very different from each other." It's crucially important for the new U.S. government at its senior levels to take seriously the oft-repeated advice of regional experts to disaggregate "Latin America" — to understand its complex diversity. Emphasizing this is now more important than ever....Hemisphere-wide summit conferences like the meeting in Trinidad have their place as a way of building communication and rapport, and they offer mutually convenient photo opportunities. But major progress on substantive issues can only be achieved with clusters of countries with comparable or complementary issues and concerns. Recognizing this reality should be the starting point for reframing U.S. policies in the Americas.
Preparations for 5th Summit of the Americas reach high pitch
Preparations for the upcoming Summit of the Americas are reaching a high pitch in the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago as it gets ready to host the leaders of 34 Western hemisphere nations during summit meetings here on April 17-19. Trinidad and Tobago, the two-island nation off the northern coast of South America, has a population of about 1.3 million and land territories of 5,128 square kilometers. The country faces an unprecedented task to accommodate such a big event that heavily taxes its infrastructure, lodging and human resources. Workers are scurrying to apply fresh paint to buildings, complete three new hangars at Piarco Airport in the capital city, repave key roads and finish a promenade and fountains at the new Port of Spain International Waterfront. Barack Obama, the first U.S. president to attend the gathering, will lead the 1,000-member U.S. delegation, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to local and U.S. news reports. They will arrive on 25 aircraft. One of the three new hangars at the airport will be used exclusively for Air Force One, a three-deck Boeing VC-25 that will carry a 26-member crew and 76 passengers. It will be the largest of the 30-plus planes transporting 34 national leaders and 5,000 delegates attending the summit.
Backgrounder: Previous Summits of the Americas
The Fifth Summit of the Americas will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on April 17-19, 2009. The summit's theme is "Securing Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability." The Summits of the Americas are periodic meetings that bring together the 34 heads of state and government of the Americas to discuss and make decisions on issues of relevance for the region. Four Summits plus two Special Summits of the Americas have taken place.
Summit of Americas to help chart course of U.S.-Latin American ties
Leaders from 34 countries are expected to attend the fifth Summit of the Americas on April 17, with the theme: "Guaranteeing our future by promoting human's prosperity, energy safety and sustainable development of the environment." But media reports in Latin American countries believe that the three-day summit in Trinidad and Tobago would be more meaningful to the future development of U.S.-Latin America ties....The theme of this upcoming summit is not closely related with the current economic and political situations in Latin American countries against the background of the financial crisis. Discussions are expected to center on the cause of the global financial and economic crisis and measures to restore economic growth.
Obama expecting no tension — US adviser sees smooth summit
Ambassador Jeffert Davidow, the White House Adviser for the Fifth Summit of the Americas being held in Port of Spain next month, says he is convinced that United States President Barack Obama "is going to Trinidad with the intention of treating all the presidents there with the respect that they merit as elected heads of state"....
