A warming trend on Cuba is forecast as President Obama this weekend wraps up his first diplomatic venture into the tangled relationships between Latin America and the United States.
His decision to lift restrictions on family travel to Cuba and to allow U.S. firms to bid on telecommunications licenses there set in motion the first perceptible thaw between Washington and Havana in decades. The shift dominated the build-up to Friday’s opening of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.
“My guidepost in U.S.-Cuba policy is going to be how can we encourage Cuba to be respectful of the rights of its people: political speech and political participation, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of travel,” the president told CNN in Espanol, “But, as I said before, I don’t expect things to change overnight.”
Obama’s agenda for the trip, which included a courtesy stop in Mexico City, included immigration, illegal arms and drug trafficking — but most crucially, the global economic crisis. Many Latin Americans blame the U.S. for the meltdown, and anti-American sentiment in the region remains strong.
“The issues that face the Americas today, particularly the economic crisis and the effects of the economic crisis, are going to be the principal concern of the vast majority of the countries and leaders who come to the summit,” said Daniel Restrepo, White House senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs.
As he did on his recent trip to Europe, Obama was aiming to step away from some of the policies of his predecessor, former President Bush, as well as lift the rancor that attended them.
“It is quite stunning that this summit is focused on trying to deal with problems that in no small part were caused by the model of hemispheric integration fiercely pushed at past summits,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch.
With illegal immigration into the U.S. mostly leveled off — the apparent result of the lack of jobs in the states — Obama is vowing to resume efforts to forge comprehensive immigration reform. It is unclear, however, what his timetable is for making it happen.
“It’s something that we need to solve,” Obama said before he left Washington on Thursday. “And this is something that I think is important not just because of the drug cartel issue; it’s important because of the human costs of a ongoing flow of illegal immigrants into this country.”
In addition to policy areas of concern, Latin America’s leadership is a minefield of personalities. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, allied to Russia, Cuba and China, was getting the polite, arms-length treatment from the Obama administration. White House officials had no one-on-one meetings scheduled between the two leaders but indicated Chavez would not be snubbed if he approached.
Other potential wild cards include President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, a former Sandinista rebel leader, and Bolivian President Evo Morales, who opposed U.S. efforts to combat drug traffickers in his country. Even friendlier leaders, such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula De Silva, presented potential problem areas for Obama resulting from ill will surrounding the economic meltdown.
Over all, however, loomed Cuba — former President Fidel Castro and his brother and successor Raul Castro were not invited to the summit. Michael Shifter, vice president for policy at the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy center on Latin America, said leaders are watching carefully how Obama handles Cuba, a central issue dividing the U.S. and the region.
“If we are talking about real change, then Cuba is the test,” Shifter said.
