The political leaders of 34 countries of the Americas continue to arrive in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago late today and into tomorrow, as they prepare to meet face to face to discuss the fate of the Americas. But while the world financial crisis has grabbed most of the spotlight in the international media since 2008, a recent maneuver by pro-Cuba president, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, to reject the Summit’s final document is the hot topic ahead of the Summit.
The Fifth Summit of the Americas will open at 5:00 on Friday evening at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, and it will be the first time the recently elected United States president Barack Obama comes to this part of the world.
News reports say that he is bringing a delegation of 1,000, while Chavez is reported to be coming with a delegation of about 200. Belize’s delegation is far more modest, comprised of Prime Minister Dean Barrow, and his CEO Audrey Wallace; Minister of Economic Development, Commerce & Industry and Consumer Protection – Hon. Erwin Contreras; Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade – Hon. Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington; and Belize’s Ambassador to the US and Permanent Representative to the OAS – Nestor Mendez. The wives of Barrow and Elrington are also on the trip, as heads are allowed to bring their spouses, who are slated to participate in an entrepreneurial session.
Prime Minister Barrow is due to lead a preliminary meeting of CARICOM tomorrow, as they solidify their collective stance for the Summit, especially amid reports coming out of a Latin American summit that ended today, which could see tempers flaring at tomorrow’s meeting.
Amid broiling debate over the exclusion of Cuba from the Organization of American States (OAS) for almost half a century and an ongoing embargo imposed by the United States, Venezuela is leading the charge in pressuring the United States to completely reverse its policy on Cuba.
On Monday, April 13, President Barack Obama issued executive orders to ease restrictions on Cuban Americans who want to travel home and send money to relatives still living in Cuba, but the move has led to caustic debate among Cuban Americans who hold diametrically opposed views of Obama’s concession to Cuba.
Still, there are those who believe that Obama did not go far enough in reversing the embargo and others who feel he gave ground to Cuba too easily.
Speaking with Amandala at the Philip Goldson International Airport on Wednesday, just before his departure from Belize, Prime Minister Dean Barrow reaffirmed the region’s support for Cuba, even while he expressed the region’s plan to embrace Obama, who he describes as having “obvious star power.”
“I don’t think we can discount the importance, the psychological lift his presidency has meant for the region and for the world. He has set a new tone; it is clear that he is serious about a new beginning, in terms of global relations and hemispherical relations,” said Barrow of Obama.
For Prime Minister Barrow, the 5th Summit of the Americas gives the region, and particularly Trinidad, a chance to showcase itself to the nations of the hemisphere, and Barrow said that he would take the opportunity to put some of the spotlight on Belize.
But all indications are that Chavez is likely to grab much of the spotlight when the time comes for signing the final declaration of commitment on Sunday morning at 11:00 local time. He has already indicated that he will reject the declaration because it talks of democracy even while Cuba – embraced by most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean – is kept outdoors of the OAS, from which it was suspended in 1962.
Top on the agenda for the Summit of the Americas will be the ongoing financial crisis, which has too many countries in the region worrying about millions more falling into the dungeons of poverty, pushing the number above the current estimate of 200 million poor for the Americas.
Prime Minister Barrow hopes that, despite the drama that may unfold in Port of Spain in the days ahead, the regional and global consciousness will be occupied by the pressing issues of the day.
The theme of the Summit expresses admirable ideals: “Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability,” but even as the hours advance toward the grand opening of the Summit, there are concerns from civil society that there has been much more talk than action on issues such as corruption and poverty alleviation.
At this summit, they will be far more vocal about taking leaders to task over making commitments they ignore once they leave the negotiating table.
Fingers will be crossed under tables by those who fear opposing views among presidents and prime ministers of the Americas, over the Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain, which has taken months to negotiate, draft and condense into just about 10 pages and 66 items.
Five broad areas are to be covered in the document: human prosperity, energy security, environmental sustainability, public security, and democratic governance.
There are reportedly 600 security officers from across the Caribbean providing security for the Summit, and Belize officials say they sent over 30 of our police officers to join the cadre of regional security.
President Obama is coming to Trinidad after an official stopover in Mexico to discuss security concerns, signaling the high priority he is also giving to relations with the immediate neighbour of the US, particularly in light of growing concerns over cross-border crime and security.
Barrow says that President Obama views the Summit as a new beginning in the way the US relates to the other countries of the hemisphere, but it is clear that the sailing won’t be that smooth in the days ahead.
Apart from condemning the draft summit declaration, Chavez, as a part of his recent summit, also got his Latin American allies to agree to a common currency, the Sucre.
Chavez blames modern-day capitalism for the current economic crisis and says that the economic regime led by the US is not the answer to meeting the needs of the people of the Americas.
Chavez’s official government site says the Venezuelan leader hopes this Fifth Summit of the Americas will be the last such summit, even though the draft declaration calls for the Summit to be held more regularly every three years.
The first Summit of the Americas was held in Miami 1994, under former US President Bill Clinton. The other summits held were in Santiago de Chile in 1998, Quebec City in Mexico in 2001, and Mar del Plata in Argentina in 2005. Two special summits have also been held: the Bolivia Summit on Sustainable Development – 1996, and the Special Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2004.
The draft declaration for the 5th Summit of the Americas is a broad, sweeping document that stipulates directives and mandates for governments on specific measures to tackle the five focus areas identified earlier in this article.
The plan is in line with the Inter-American Democratic Charter, which Chavez and other Cuban supporters feel was deliberately done to continue to box Cuba out of the OAS and the hemispheric process, as continued punishment for holding on to its communist regime.
Still, the gesture made by US president Obama to ease tensions with Cuba is seen by some as a positive step forward in relations among states in the region.
Prime Minister Barrow said on his way to the Summit that, “It is a good beginning.”
But he went further to tell our newspaper where the CARICOM region stands on the Cuba issue: “I think all of us in the region would like to see a lifting of the economic blockade against Cuba, but clearly the president is not entirely the master of that situation; that will depend as well on the US Congress, but the leadership of president Obama in that respect is going to be very important, and I think he is already establishing that he means to be progressive on the question of Cuba by these initial measures that he has announced…”
P.M. Barrow told us that we can hope to see more than just the pomp and circumstance at the Summit:
“This is a summit from which I believe we can come away with the concrete pillars, the new building blocks of regional understanding that will be far more egalitarian, that would be far more sensitive to the needs of small states such as Belize.”
The Summit concludes on Sunday with the signing of the declaration, and the likely protest by Chavez and possibly his closest allies.
(The Belize Government delegation arrived in Port of Spain around mid-afternoon today. CARICOM leaders also meet Friday with Canada to discuss an impending trade and development agreement, which the region hopes will bolster the economic stance of Caribbean states still reeling from shocks suffered on account of the world financial crisis.)