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Obama calls for "deeds" to follow very productive summit
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 19 - 04 - 2009


US President Barack Obama hailed as "very
productive" the Summit of the Americas that ended Sunday in Trinidad
and Tobago, but stressed that a lot remained to be done, particularly
on the key issue of US-Cuban relations, according to dpa.
"The test for all of us is not simply words but also deeds," he
said at a press conference in Port of Spain following the end of the
summit.
Obama said that migration and energy were discussed along with
more thorny issues like Cuba or US-Latin American relations more
generally. The summit went some way towards "launching a new era of
partnership" between nations around the region and showed
"potentially-positive signs," he noted.
As to likely criticism within the United States for his recent
advances towards Cuba - to signal historic changes in a relationship
that has been troubled for half-a-century - and Venezuela, Obama said
that his mandate lies elsewhere.
"I don't worry about the politics, I try to figure out what's
right in terms of the American interest," he stressed.
On the key issue of Cuba - the focus of the summit despite not
being officially on its agenda - Obama insisted on concepts that had
come up in recent days.
"The policy that we have had in place for 50 years has not worked
the way we wanted it to," he said.
Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States (OAS)
in 1962, at the behest of the United States. For this reason, it was
the only one of the 35 countries in the Americas that was not
represented in Trinidad and Tobago.
Although OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza had expressed
the wish that Cuba would indeed take part in the next Summit of the
Americas in three years' time, and although Latin American nations
had insisted on the need for the US to lift its decades-old embargo
on the communist island, Obama was more cautious.
He sent a message to Havana, saying that policy changes cannot be
unilateral. For Obama, the issues of political prisoners, freedom of
speech, freedom of religion and democracy in general "continue to be
important."
Obama admitted that while he did not "see eye to eye with every
regional leader" on every possible issue, the summit in Port of Spain
delivered an important result.
"We showed that while we have our differences we can work
together."
Obama again stressed the importance of "mutual respect" in
international relations. However, while he did not shirk away from
his country's special responsibilities, he noted that even Washington
cannot act alone.
"The United States remains the most powerful, wealthiest nation on
earth, but we're only one nation," he said. "Problems cannot be
solved by just one country."
Obama said he had "very cordial" conversations with US critics
like presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador,
beyond his highly-publicized encounters with Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez.
"President Chavez is just better at positioning the cameras," he
said to prompt laughter among reporters.
Security and the fight against drug trafficking were discussed
during the summit, as they were during Obama's trip to Mexico en
route to Trinidad and Tobago.
"We are acting boldly, we are acting swiftly and we are acting in
concert," he said of an issue that had brought Washington to a head
with its Mexican and Central American partners.
The gathering in Port of Spain was Obama's firts major meeting
with Latin America, and Chavez among others had anticipated tensions
that later appeared to defuse.
The United States "has a history in this region," Obama admitted.
In relation to past interventions, that Latin American nations resent
to this day, the new US president stressed that he is only
"responsible for how this administration acts."
However, he said he believes that his country can be strengthened
by the acknowledgement that it has "stranded from" its own values.
The change in approach has not "have suddenly transformed every
foreign policy item that is on the agenda" and there will continue to
be "very tough negotiations" on a wide range of issues, Obama warned.
However, he stressed that talking to colleagues from the region,
and particularly seeing them talk about the assistance they get from
Cuban doctors, made him more aware that the United States has to use
diplomacy and development aid "in more intelligent ways."


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