Barack Obama

Braving the fierce midday sun on the deck of the Hilton overlooking the Queen’s Park Savannah, US President Barack Obama outlined his foreign policy principles, placing a high value on the promotion of democratic practices such as freedom of speech and religion which he described as universal values.

At a news conference at the end of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, Obama acknowledged that the economic embargo imposed by the US against Cuba almost 50 years ago “had not worked.” He called on Cuba to free political prisoners, embrace democracy and lower the fees it charges on remittances even as he welcomed signs from the north Caribbean island that it was ready to talk.

“The fact that you had Raul Castro say he’s willing to have his government discuss with ours not just issues of lifting the embargo, but issues of human rights, political prisoners, that’s a sign of progress,” Obama said. “And so we’re going to explore and see if we can make some further steps.” Indicating that he had lived up to his promise to listen and not lecture, Obama said he had heard hemispheric leaders, when they spoke about Cuba “talking very specifically about the thousands of doctors that are dispersed throughout the region, and upon which many of these countries heavily depend.”

As a result, he said this was a lesson to Americans that the US had to use diplomacy and development aid so that people could see improvements in the lives as a result of US foreign policy. Obama said the US was at its best when it represented universal values and ideas such as democratic practices such as freedom of speech and religion. He said that the US promoted its ideals and values by example and, under his leadership, he would not lecture other nations “but show, through how we operate, the benefits of these values and ideas.”

On the issue of Venezuela, the US president said he had had interactions with many of the left-leading leaders in the hemisphere but admitted that his meetings with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez drew the most attention because Chavez was better at “positioning the cameras.” Questioned on the notion that he may be too soft on Chavez, Obama pointed out that the South American country’s defence budget was a fraction of the US’s and that the country owned Citgo, a popular US chain of gas stations. “It’s unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States,” Obama said.

“The whole notion was that if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness. The American people didn’t buy it. And there’s a good reason the American people didn’t buy it—because it doesn’t make sense.” Responding to allegations by Bolivia’s President Evo Morales during the summit that the US was involved in attempts to overthrow his administration, Obama said that that was not the policy of the American government. “I just want to make absolutely clear that I am absolutely opposed to and condemn any efforts at violent overthrow of democratically elected governments wherever it happens in the hemisphere,” Obama said.

He said the US would be respectful to democratically-elected governments even when it disagreed with them. At a news conference organised by the White House for the members of its travelling press corps, some members of Latin American media and two journalists from T&T, Obama demonstrated a sense of humour, teasing a female American journalist about her partying and drawing a chuckle when he said that a male journalist should write about the Obama Doctrine or Obamism. He thanked the host nation, T&T, for its “wonderful hospitality and gracious welcome.”