US President Barack Obama pledged on Friday to seek a “new beginning” in ties with communist-ruled Cuba as part of a new era of U.S. partnership and engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean.
Before addressing his counterparts in the hemisphere at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, Obama also initiated a handshake with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of Washington's most virulent critics in the region.
“We cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements,” Obama told the opening session of the summit after entering the conference center to warm applause.
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 US seeks a new beginning with Cuba. I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day,” Obama said in his address.
Regional heads of state, from Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, have called on Obama to end the long-standing US embargo against Cuba.
Obama’s handshake with Chavez also heralded a possible improvement in ties with one of the most important oil suppliers to the US. “We shook hands like gentlemen; it was obvious it was going to happen,” Chavez told reporters later. “President Obama is an intelligent man, different from the previous one.”
A senior US official said Obama went over to Chavez to introduce himself and they shook hands. Asked later by reporters what he had said to Chavez, Obama replied: “I said, ‘Como estas?’” — Spanish for “How are you?”
{{/usCountry}}A senior US official said Obama went over to Chavez to introduce himself and they shook hands. Asked later by reporters what he had said to Chavez, Obama replied: “I said, ‘Como estas?’” — Spanish for “How are you?”
{{/usCountry}}