President Barack Obama, facing some of the U.S.’s harshest critics, said he seeks new ties with Cuba and called on fellow leaders in the Americas to work as equals with the U.S. instead of making the superpower a scapegoat.
Obama made his debut last night at the Summit of the Americas, where leaders including Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega greeted him with rants about “Yankee troops” and complaints about U.S. policies, including the embargo against Cuba and Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory.
The barbs didn’t sway Obama from his message of hemispheric unity. He’s promising “equal partnership” and a “new chapter of engagement” as the global economic crisis, drug trafficking and security concerns weigh on the region. He responded to the most contentious issue hanging over the summit by saying that the U.S. and Cuba can start fresh after almost 50 years of severed ties, as long as Cuba is sincere.
“I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking,” Obama said at a welcoming ceremony last night in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where all nations in the region except Cuba are gathered for talks. “But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.”
Obama didn’t directly respond to Cuban President Raul Castro, who said on April 16 that his government is “willing to discuss everything” that could ease five decades of hostilities between the two nations.
Castro’s Overture
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in the Dominican Republic yesterday, said the administration is “taking a very serious look” at Castro’s overture.
Ortega and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the first leaders to talk at the summit, both called for Obama to lift the almost 50-year-old trade embargo with Cuba. Obama administration officials have said there are no plans to do so. Fernandez also said the U.S. had subordinated Latin America.
Obama didn’t mention the embargo as he made his case for alliances across the hemisphere that are built on “mutual respect, common interests and shared values.” He called for all countries to pull their weight and stop judging the U.S. based on old grievances.
Obama made his debut last night at the Summit of the Americas, where leaders including Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega greeted him with rants about “Yankee troops” and complaints about U.S. policies, including the embargo against Cuba and Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory.
The barbs didn’t sway Obama from his message of hemispheric unity. He’s promising “equal partnership” and a “new chapter of engagement” as the global economic crisis, drug trafficking and security concerns weigh on the region. He responded to the most contentious issue hanging over the summit by saying that the U.S. and Cuba can start fresh after almost 50 years of severed ties, as long as Cuba is sincere.
“I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking,” Obama said at a welcoming ceremony last night in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, where all nations in the region except Cuba are gathered for talks. “But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.”
Obama didn’t directly respond to Cuban President Raul Castro, who said on April 16 that his government is “willing to discuss everything” that could ease five decades of hostilities between the two nations.
Castro’s Overture
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in the Dominican Republic yesterday, said the administration is “taking a very serious look” at Castro’s overture.
Ortega and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the first leaders to talk at the summit, both called for Obama to lift the almost 50-year-old trade embargo with Cuba. Obama administration officials have said there are no plans to do so. Fernandez also said the U.S. had subordinated Latin America.
Obama didn’t mention the embargo as he made his case for alliances across the hemisphere that are built on “mutual respect, common interests and shared values.” He called for all countries to pull their weight and stop judging the U.S. based on old grievances.
“To move forward, we can’t let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. I am very grateful that President Ortega didn’t blame me for things that happened when I was three months old,” Obama said in his only direct reference to the Nicaraguan leader.
‘Rose Above It’
“Obama rose above it,” said U.S. Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York attending the summit. “He set the tone. He had the last word.”
Ortega, who said he was upset that he was forced to wait for three hours on the tarmac after landing, spoke for 45 minutes and said he was “ashamed” Cuba wasn’t invited to participate in the summit. At one point, he prompted a smirk from Obama when he referred to “Yankee troops.”
Obama said the U.S. has changed and other nations must do so also.
“It’s not just the United States that has to change. All of us have responsibilities to look toward the future,” he said.
“It’s important to recognize, given historic suspicions, that the United States policy shouldn’t be interference in other countries,” he said in comments that weren’t part of his prepared remarks released by the White House.
Obama’s ‘Bargain’
“But that also means that we can’t blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere. That’s part of the bargain,” Obama said. “That’s part of the change that has to take place.”
The approach may already be working.
Before his remarks, Ortega came over to Obama and introduced himself, a U.S. official who requested anonymity told reporters.
Obama is eager to find some time for pull-aside meetings, instead of formal bilateral talks, over the next two days with the leaders of Canada, Colombia, Peru, Haiti and Chile, the administration official said.
Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s socialist president who called former President George W. Bush a “devil,” walked over and introduced himself to Obama before the U.S. president spoke. Chavez told Obama he wants to be his “friend,” Venezuela’s Information and Communications Ministry said in a statement.
The criticism of the U.S. also didn’t appear to ruffle Clinton, who is attending the summit. When asked about Ortega’s speech, the secretary of state smiled and alluded to the post- speech entertainment.
“I thought the cultural performance was fabulous,” she said.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Before his remarks, Ortega came over to Obama and introduced himself, a U.S. official who requested anonymity told reporters.
Obama is eager to find some time for pull-aside meetings, instead of formal bilateral talks, over the next two days with the leaders of Canada, Colombia, Peru, Haiti and Chile, the administration official said.
Hugo Chavez, Venezuela’s socialist president who called former President George W. Bush a “devil,” walked over and introduced himself to Obama before the U.S. president spoke. Chavez told Obama he wants to be his “friend,” Venezuela’s Information and Communications Ministry said in a statement.
The criticism of the U.S. also didn’t appear to ruffle Clinton, who is attending the summit. When asked about Ortega’s speech, the secretary of state smiled and alluded to the post- speech entertainment.
“I thought the cultural performance was fabulous,” she said.
To contact the reporters on this story:
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