PREVIEW: Obama seeks new beginning in ties with Latin America

Apr 14, 2009, 14:35 GMT

Washington - Latin America, traditionally regarded as the United States' 'backyard,' hopes to move up in Washington's agenda under new US President Barack Obama, particularly at a time of global crisis.

Obama has already promised a 'new beginning' in ties with his neighbours south of the Rio Grande, and that could start with the Summit of the Americas that begins Friday in Trinidad and Tobago. Obama is set to travel to the Caribbean country after a stop in Mexico on Wednesday.

'The approach that the president will take will be one of listening, exchanging information, viewing the summit as the beginning of a way of interacting with this hemisphere and reinvigorating the relationship,' Obama's special advisor for the Summit, Jeffrey Davidow, said recently.

However, there are many issues that could jeopardize the longed- for regional reunion, including Cuba - and the Latin American consensus to call for an end to the US embargo on the island - and the diplomatic tensions between Washington and countries like Venezuela and Bolivia.

Obama on Monday lifted all restrictions on Cuban Americans travelling and sending money back to their home country as part of a much-anticipated reversal of US policies toward Cuba, but made no moves to lift the trade embargo.

In an executive order, Obama will also expand communications links and allow more humanitarian donations to be sent to Cuba in what the White House billed as an effort to encourage a democratic transition on the Communist island.

This would not be the first time that Latin American leaders hear promises and well-intentioned words in talks with Washington which are later relegated lower on the White House's priority list, as happened under Obama's predecessor George W Bush.

As governor of the border state of Texas, Bush spoke about close ties to the region, but then his foreign policy became dominated by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Still, there are many signs that things are really about to change in the US strategy towards its southern neighbours.

In the many forums in which Davidow has taken part in recent weeks, Obama's advisor has highlighted the major efforts that the White House has made in diplomacy prior to the summit.

US Vice President Joe Biden took part in a gathering of left-wing leaders in late March in Chile, alongside presidents Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina and Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay. There, he advocated advancing 'toward a new day' in hemispheric relations in the face of 'common concerns.'

Just a week before the summit in Trinidad and Tobago, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana and with Panama's Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro in Washington. And several US ministers, including Clinton, have travelled to Mexico to boost cooperative efforts in fighting drug violence in the US neighbour.

Obama himself has held several private meetings with some of Latin America's main leaders. Even before he was inaugurated as president, Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whom he is set to visit just hours before the Summit of the Americas.

Already as president, Obama met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Washington before meeting him again at the Group of 20 (G20) summit of leading and emerging economies in London in early April.

Fernandez de Kirchner and Calderon were also in London. And Obama has also spoken to Peruvian President Alan Garcia over the telephone in recent days.

Loyal to the spirit he showed about a week ago in his trip to Europe, Obama insisted in his weekly radio address Saturday in the need to work together to face the world's current economic and security challenges.

'These are challenges that no single nation, no matter how powerful, can confront alone. The United States must lead the way. But our best chance to solve these unprecedented problems comes from acting in concert with other nations,' he said.

'With all that is at stake today, we cannot afford to talk past one another. We can't afford to allow old differences to prevent us from making progress in areas of common concern,' Obama said.

The message was not specifically addressed to Latin America, but could well apply to it.

In relations with Latin America, Obama appears to have made one key friend: Lula.

In London, the Brazilian leader - who has a good relationship with almost all of his peers in the region - said in no uncertain terms that Obama's arrival at the White House is 'an opportunity for Latin America to build a relationship with the United States that it did not have before.'