Since the Organization of American States (OAS) has always been dominated by the United States, Cuba has never been invited to attend its summits.
However, the leaders of the 34 OAS countries agreed to "advance joint solutions to address the most pressing challenges facing the region" and to secure the citizens' future by promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability.
This week Venezuela and the U.S. will start talks to return their respective ambassadors to Caracas and Washington.
In September 2008, President Hugo Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela in a gesture of solidarity with Bolivian President Evo Morales. Previously, Morales had declared the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia persona non grata, having accused the U.S. of plotting his assassination. Washington retaliated accordingly.
Chavez reportedly told President Barack Obama at the Fifth Summit that he hoped for better relations between the two nations.
Supposedly as a goodwill gesture, Chavez presented to Obama a book, "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" (Las venas abiertas de America Latina), written by Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano in 1971.
A bible of the continent's left-wing and socialist forces and a chronicle of exploitation in the region by you know who, "Open Veins of Latin America" had been ranked 54,000th on the sales charts of Amazon.com, the online retailer of books, movies, music, games and other items. After Chavez presented it to Obama, the book shot up to 6th place.
The trouble is, though, that Obama does not speak Spanish and in all likelihood has no time to read it.
On the whole, Obama did not have to do much to ensure success for his first appearance at the Americas' summit. He only had to appear more modest than George W. Bush had done and to listen to what the other leaders had to say, which is exactly what he did.
Unlike his predecessor, the 44th U.S. President was all ears, listening via earphones to every speech by the American leaders, something Chavez duly noticed. At the last summit in Argentina in 2005, President Bush demonstratively took his earphones off barely half an hour after the beginning of debates. No wonder that Latin America started leaning towards Russia and China.
For the most part, Obama should tread carefully as Latin America has been pushed very far left by George Bush, contrary to what the United States really wants on the continent.
Venezuela, the largest oil producer in Latin America, is leaning towards Russia.
Few people probably remember this, but last year's joint maneuvers of the Russian and Venezuelan navies were Chavez's reaction to Washington's plans to re-establish the U.S. 4th Fleet and to assign it to the U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command.
Dissolved in 1950, the 4th Fleet will operate, after its re-establishment is completed this summer, in the Caribbean, and Central and South America, and surrounding waters. The fleet will help fight drug traffickers and work on humanitarian and diplomatic exercises.
This is absurd, as you don't need a whole fleet to combat drug traffickers, and Latin American countries are well aware of this.
Although Cuba was not represented at the Fifth Summit, it was the subject of discussion during and between official debates. Obama promised to change his country's policy towards Cuba. So far, Washington has only lifted travel restrictions and remittances for Cuban Americans, but Cuba is ready for more.
At the time of the summit, Raul Castro said that Havana had unofficially informed Washington of its readiness to resume talks.
"The fact that you have Raul Castro saying he's willing to have his government discuss with ours not just issues of lifting the embargo but issues of human rights and political prisoners, that's a sign of progress," Obama added. "So we're going to explore to see if we can make some further steps."
However, not all Latin American leaders have been impressed by Obama. Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa remained skeptical.
Morales told reporters that in the nearly 100 days since Obama took office he had seen no change in U.S. hostility to his nation. Correa said the U.S. had remained uppity towards Latin America.
According to experts, the fact that the south of the continent has been hit by the current economic and financial downturn only mildly serves as evidence of the wide gap separating it from the Untied States.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
