Was Obama at Summit of Americas for photo-op or to set new American tone for region?

Apr 23, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It is impossible to overstate the significance of what is likely to emerge between the United States and countries of Latin America and the Caribbean after last weekend’s Summit of Americas in Trinidad that basically saw President Barack Obama set a new American foreign policy tone for the region, at a time when the region was looking for a sense of direction from Washington to counter what it perceived as Washington’s disinterest and the rising alternative from Caracas.
Basically, if the Summit was about realigning the Americas with Washington, it was a measured success as far as setting a cordial tone is concerned, but if was about moving the region forward as one, it will require a lot of ground work.

And part of the ground work will include the kind of support Washington gets from Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, whose Bolivarian Revolution has spilled over into neighbouring countries he wants to use as an economic and political bloc to counter the United States.
In the run up to the Summit, the US media had a field day playing up his anti-Americanism, then captured him glad-handing and grinning broadly with President Obama, whom Chavez also gave a book that has suddenly seen sales take off. From several accounts, it would even appear that Obama and Chavez overshadowed the Summit that was supposed to be about the issues affecting the lacklustre relationship between Washington and the region.

Some cynics would have us believe that President Obama, fresh off his media-hyped G-20 meeting in Europe, was looking to extend his search for photo opportunities to build up his political profile as an eager-to-learn leader of the free world, but genuine commentators and analysts seem to agree that last weekend’s meeting was a continuation of a world tour by the new US President to highlight that America is heading in a new direction in its relations with the world. Ergo, look for more globetrotting by Team Obama.
But while both assessments may have some validity, they need to be thoroughly analysed to determine which one is the genuine article.

First off, I see nothing wrong with President Obama wanting to engage in photo-ops if these can help sell his image as a man who wants to change the world’s perception of America.
And he knows that for the world to change its perception of America, America has to change its own image, so he has taken his campaign message of change abroad.

Second, the Americas can no longer be seen as the United States’ backyard to which the U.S. pays scant attention while expending lots of time, energies and monies on distant regions, whose economic and military strategic importance to America stems from oil supplies and rivalries for geo-political dominance.
Though the Cold War is over and the world is no longer in danger of an East-West confrontation, danger still lurks in pockets of the world where leaders are seeking to become despots with their hands on nuclear and other powerful weapons, even as their people face excruciating hardship.

US administrations that preceded the current one failed to see the rapid transformation of the world after the Cold War ended and so failed to adopt a foreign policy position to deal with the ongoing changes.
The status quo of America as a superpower was not going to be preserved without challenges from friends and foes and from friends turned foes as circumstances around the world changed.
And whenever contemporary US history is written, 9-11 will always be identified as the turning point, because after 9-11 America has never been the same as it continues to countenance myriad challenges, even to its own superpower and leader of the free world status.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the challenges are just as enormous as elsewhere in America as in other parts of the world, but rather than there being lots of bloodletting, the people of this region have been largely peaceful, always finding ways to survive and co-exist; even if it means migrating within or outside the region.

And because North America (the US and Canada) have an open door policy to immigrants, West Indians and Latin Americans alike have flocked north in search of a better quality of life, and many of those who made it did not forget those they left behind, hence the large sums of money being remitted every year. Still, foreign remittances have not done enough to make the region economically competitive like their Asian counterparts. In fact, many American ‘backyardigans’ are still wondering how American companies could have outsourced jobs to Asia while there is a large labour force in America’s backyard which could have benefited from the undertaking as catered for in NAFTA.

The Summit has ended but the myriad problems and questions in our region remain, and while the old Washington policies may be replaced under President Obama, the struggle against the common enemies of many in the region: socioeconomic injustice, uncertainty, sickness and hunger may continue for the unforeseeable future. The region can now only hope and pray that last weekend’s Summit signals America’s awareness of its plight and so focus on what is of intrinsic importance to the people in the region, or else the consequence of unawareness could be a broadening of a brawny Bolivarian Revolution which no one knows where it will end up taking the region.

As a Guyanese, I hope and pray that President Obama’s attendance at last weekend’s Summit brought a positive spirit in helping to strengthen this regional economic bloc or alliance that, with some reforms, could deepen the democratization and development process, thereby extending to the region the relative peace and prosperity America now enjoys despite its economic slump.

If under President Obama the United States can help drastically change the fortunes of Caribbean and Latin America, it would be a plus, to say the least, because America’s principal adversaries in the region could cease to exist and even end up being beneficiaries of the change that President Obama may be seeking to bring about via his policy shift in the region.
Emile Mervin

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