By msnbc.com and news service, April 14, 2012
Organization of American States heads of state pose for cameras in Cartagena, Columbia |
CARTAGENA,
Colombia -- Unprecedented Latin American opposition to U.S. sanctions on
communist Cuba left President Barack Obama isolated at the Summit of the
Americas on Sunday and illustrated Washington's waning influence in the region.
In
contrast to the rock-star status he enjoyed at the 2009 summit in Trinidad and
Tobago shortly after taking office, Obama has had a bruising time at the
two-day meeting in Colombia of some 30 heads of state from across the
Americas.
Eleven
Secret Service agents and five military personnel were caught in an
embarrassing prostitution scandal, Brazil and others have bashed Obama over
U.S. monetary policy, and he has been on the defensive over calls to legalize
drugs.
Thanks
to the U.S. and Canadian line on Cuba, the heads of state were unable to
produce a final declaration as the summit fizzled out on Sunday.
"There
was no declaration because there was no consensus," said Colombian
President Juan Manuel Santos, who hosted the summit.
’if
prostitution claims true
"That
is not a failure, on the contrary," he said, trying to spin the outcome
and frank exchange of different views as a sign of strength.
At a
press conference with Santos, Obama responded to a question about Cuba by
saying that while his administration has eased travel by Cuban Americans to
Cuba, the Cuban government had not taken steps toward democracy and "has
not yet observed basic human rights."
The prostitution
saga, above all, was a major blow to the prestige of Obama's Secret
Service bodyguards and turned into the unexpected talk of the town in the
historic city of Cartagena.
For
the first time, conservative U.S-allied nations like Colombia are throwing
their weight behind the traditional demand of leftist governments that Cuba be
in the next meeting of the Organization of American States.
"The
isolation, the embargo, the indifference, looking the other way, have been
ineffective," Santos said.
A
major U.S. ally in the region who has relied on Washington for financial and
military help to fight guerrillas and drug traffickers, Santos has become vocal
over Cuba despite his strong ideological differences with Havana.
In an
ironic twist, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went dancing after midnight on
Sunday at a Cartagena bar called "Cafe Havana" where Cuban music is
played.
Havana
was kicked out of the OAS a few years after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, and
has been excluded from its summits due to opposition from the United States and
Canada. Latin Americans also oppose Washington's trade embargo on the island.
Argentine
President Cristina Fernandez, who has insisted Washington recognize its claim
to the Falkland Islands controlled by Britain, left the summit on Sunday
morning, before its official closure.
Ecuador's
President Rafael Correa boycotted the meeting over Cuba, and fellow leftist
Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua also stayed at home. The leftist ALBA bloc of
nations - including Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and some Caribbean
nations - said they will not attend future summits without Cuba's presence.
"It's
not a favor anyone would be doing to Cuba. It's a right they've had taken away
from them," Ortega said from Managua. "At this meeting in Cartagena,
I think it's time for the U.S. government, all President Obama's advisers, to
listen to all the Latin American nations."
Though
there were widespread hopes for a rapprochement with Cuba under Obama when he
took office, Washington has done little beyond ease some travel restrictions,
saying democratic changes must come on the island before any further steps can
be taken.
Obama
has not spoken of Cuba in Colombia, though he did complain that Cold War-era
issues, some dating from before his birth, were hindering perspectives on
regional integration.
"Sometimes
I feel as if in some of these discussions, or at least the press reports, we're
caught in a time warp, going back to the 1950s and gunboat diplomacy and
Yankees and the Cold War, and this and that and the other," the
50-year-old Obama said.
"That's
not the world we live in today."
The
controversy at the summit added to strain on the Washington-dominated system of
hemispheric diplomacy that was built around the OAS but is struggling to evolve
with changes in the region.
Perceived
U.S. neglect of Latin America has allowed China to move strongly into the
region and become the leading trade partner of Brazil and various other
nations.
Regional
economic powerhouse Brazil has led criticism at the summit of U.S. and other
rich nations' expansionist monetary policy that is sending a flood of funds
into developing nations, forcing up local currencies and hurting
competitiveness.
Cheering
the mood a bit, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that a U.S.-Colombia
free trade agreement will come into force in the middle of May.
With a presidential election looming, Obama has portrayed his
visit to the summit as a way to generate jobs at home by boosting trade with
the region.
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