[R-G] Aiming for a new Americas

[Anthony Fenton]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/04/200941717286839863.html

Aiming for a new Americas
By Lucia Newman, Latin America editor, in Trinidad

Expectations for an important shift in relations between the US and  
its southern neighbours are high as leaders from every country in the  
Americas - with the exception of Cuba - gather in Trinidad and Tobago  
for the fifth summit of the Americas.

The summit was launched in 1994, with a clear mandate to establish a  
"hemispheric free trade zone" of the Americas, reaching from Alaska in  
the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south by 2005.

A lot has happened since then and the political map of Latin America,  
particularly South America, has changed radically.

A region that for more than a century took its cue from Washington,  
and was often ruled by US-backed military governments, is now led  
almost entirely by left or centre-left governments which have declared  
their political and economic independence.

In a possible sign of the changing economic times, the insistence on a  
hemispheric free trade accord has been scrapped, replaced by an agenda  
that focuses on human prosperity, environmental sustainability and  
energy security.

And Latin American and Caribbean leaders are also interested in  
something else.

They are looking for a different, more equal kind of relationship with  
the world's biggest superpower, and for the first time, the president  
of the US seems to be willing to listen.

"Times have changed," said Barack Obama in an interview with a Spanish  
language television network.

"I think it's important for the US not to tell other countries how  
to ... structure their democratic practices and what should be  
contained in their constitutions."

The reference to internal politics was clearly directed at  
Washington's staunchest opponent in the region, Hugo Chavez, the  
Venezuelan president, who once compared Bush to "Satan" and Adolf  
Hitler.

He will come face to face for the first time with the new US president.

"The summit is an opportunity to reset Latin America's relations with  
the United States," says Chavez.

Nevertheless, on the eve of the summit of the Americas,  the  
Venezuelan leader hosted a meeting of ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for  
Latin America) with the presidents of Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia, in  
which he said he and others would veto the US-backed  final  
declaration of the summit, because it is "misplaced in time and space".

"Let us hope that the president of the United States goes there to  
listen," added Chavez.

"We are going to speak our truth."

Cuba pressure

One of those "truths" not on the official agenda but which will  
clearly be on the table is the absence of Cuba.

The one-party state was expelled in 1962 from the Organisation of  
American States (OAS) under whose auspices the summit of the Americas  
is held.

Every nation in Latin America and the Caribbean is calling for the US  
to end its 47-year economic and political embargo against Cuba, and  
Obama will be reminded that the rest of the region wants Cuba brought  
back into the fold.

On the eve of the summit, the US president did announce measures aimed  
at "reaching out to the Cuban people", which include lifting  
restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba by Cuban-Americans.

But regional leaders say that is not enough.

"I have told ... Obama that there is no academic, sociological,  
political, economic, ethical or moral explanation for maintaining the  
blockade against Cuba," Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian  
president, said in a recent interview with Al Jazeera.

Obama has responded by saying that Washington has made the first  
gesture and now Cuba must take the next step by moving forward on  
human rights issues.

"We are willing to talk about anything he wants, human rights, freedom  
of the press, whatever, but always on equal terms and without the  
slightest shade of doubt about our sovereignty," Raul Castro,  
president of Cuba, responded.

But the summit organisers are concerned the Cuba issue could  
overshadow the stated goals of the summit and the opportunity to  
discuss co-ordinated actions aimed at overcoming the current economic  
crisis.

"Yes, we welcome the discussion on Cuba. Yes, there are statements to  
be made, but not in any aggressive form, so as to take away from what  
we are truly here for," Paula Gopee-Scoon, the Trinidadian foreign  
minister, said on Friday.