Obama calls for 'deeds' to follow very productive summit

Apr 20, 2009, 7:37 GMT

US President Barack Obama (R) talks with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet during the official dinner at the 5th Summit of the Americas at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 18 April 2009. Obama offered a spirit of cooperation to America\'s hemispheric neighbors at the summit, listening to complaints about past US meddling and even reaching out to Venezuela\'s leftist leader Hugo Chavez. EPA/MATTHEW CAVANAUGH

Port of Spain - 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.

'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.'