MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama pledges a “new beginning” with Latinamerica and Cuba

Pte. Barak Obama arrives at Fifth Summit of the Americas

United States President Barack Obama pledged on Friday to seek a “new beginning” in ties with the Castro brothers ruled Cuba as part of a new era of US partnership and engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean. But he also pointed out he had come to speak about the future, not the past.

“We cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements” Obama told the opening session of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port Spain, Trinidad Tobago. Obama promised US cooperation to help the region fight the effects of the global economic crisis and confront the challenges of climate change and insecurity posed by drug-trafficking and kidnapping.

But he made a point of referring to Cuba, whose government has been at ideological odds with Washington for half a century following Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

“The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know there is a longer journey that must be travelled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day” Obama said in his address to warm applause.

“Over the past two years, I have indicated -- and I repeat today -- that I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues -- from human rights, free speech and democratic reform to drugs, migration and economic issues,” he added.

His speech before 33 other leaders from the hemisphere came a day after Cuban President Raul Castro had said his government was ready to talk about “everything” with the United States, including political prisoners and press freedom.

Earlier this week, Obama relaxed parts of the 47-year-old US trade embargo against Cuba, and the conciliatory signals from both sides have raised hopes across the hemisphere of a historic rapprochement between Washington and Havana.

Cuba is excluded from the Trinidad meeting of 34 leaders since it was expelled from the Organization of American States in 1962, and in the past has angrily rejected any attempt to link an improvement in ties with Washington with internal reform.

Regional heads of state, from Brazil's Lula da Silva to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, have called on Obama to end the long-standing US embargo against Cuba.

In his speech, Obama promised to work with countries in the hemisphere to help the region confront the recession, stimulate economic growth and create jobs.

“We recognize that we have a special responsibility as one of the world's financial centres, to work with partners around the globe to reform a failed regulatory system -- so that we can prevent the kinds of financial abuses that led to this current crisis from ever happening again,” he said.

Vowing “aggressive action to reduce our demand for drugs and to stop the flow of guns and bulk cash south across our border,” he announced a new initiative to invest 30 million USD to strengthen cooperation on security in the Caribbean.

In his rambling speech to the opening session, former guerrilla leader Ortega said he was “ashamed” to be attending a summit at which Cuba was not present, and he sharply criticized the United States' history in the region.

Obama said in his address: “I think it is important to recognize, given the historic suspicions, that the United States policy should not be interference in other countries.”

“But that also means that we can't blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere, that is part of the bargain; that is part of the change that has to take place. That is the old way, we need a new way,” he added.

Obama's special adviser for the summit, former US diplomat Jeffrey Davidow, told the Washington Post newspaper earlier this week: ”He (Obama) is going to Trinidad with the intention of listening, discussing and dealing with his colleagues as partners”.

Obama is expected to try and repeat the public-relations success of his recent trip to Europe, where he charmed leaders and populations without really achieving any of his goals of getting the Europeans to spend more stimulus money and send more troops to Afghanistan.