Richard Tafoya
Apr 19th, 2009, 04:55 PM
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041901730.html
President Obama concluded a summit of the hemisphere's leaders Sunday by articulating a broad new agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, having gained momentum in his bid to repair relations with some of the region's shrillest critics of the United States.
In a news conference at the end of the fifth Summit of the Americas, Obama outlined what he is learning about the world and how he intends to engage it based on his experiences here and earlier this month in Europe and Turkey. He expressed support for a more central U.S. place in global alliances, including a firm endorsement of the United Nations, and said "we do our best to promote our ideals and our values by our example."
But Obama, whose reception as the first black U.S. president was at times celebratory in a region where race and poverty are intertwined, indicated that the U.S. role in the hemisphere remains paramount given the size of its economy.
Latin America's left has long criticized that view as economic imperialism, a sentiment that found voice in speeches here by Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Regarding relations with Cuba, an issue many leaders here urged Obama to improve by lifting the economic embargo, the president said "the policy that we've had in place for 50 years hasn't worked the way we want it to. The Cuban people are not free."
Obama noted progress in Raul Castro's recent statement that his country was willing to discuss human rights issues with the U.S. Cuba, Obama said, should free political prisoners, reduces its tax on remittances to the island and grant new freedoms to its citizens as a next step in thawing U.S.-Cuba relations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041901730.html
President Obama concluded a summit of the hemisphere's leaders Sunday by articulating a broad new agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, having gained momentum in his bid to repair relations with some of the region's shrillest critics of the United States.
In a news conference at the end of the fifth Summit of the Americas, Obama outlined what he is learning about the world and how he intends to engage it based on his experiences here and earlier this month in Europe and Turkey. He expressed support for a more central U.S. place in global alliances, including a firm endorsement of the United Nations, and said "we do our best to promote our ideals and our values by our example."
But Obama, whose reception as the first black U.S. president was at times celebratory in a region where race and poverty are intertwined, indicated that the U.S. role in the hemisphere remains paramount given the size of its economy.
Latin America's left has long criticized that view as economic imperialism, a sentiment that found voice in speeches here by Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Regarding relations with Cuba, an issue many leaders here urged Obama to improve by lifting the economic embargo, the president said "the policy that we've had in place for 50 years hasn't worked the way we want it to. The Cuban people are not free."
Obama noted progress in Raul Castro's recent statement that his country was willing to discuss human rights issues with the U.S. Cuba, Obama said, should free political prisoners, reduces its tax on remittances to the island and grant new freedoms to its citizens as a next step in thawing U.S.-Cuba relations.