WORLD AFFAIRS

Keith Boag

Stepping toward a new era in U.S. relations

Last Updated: Monday, April 20, 2009 | 12:33 PM ET

By Keith Boag, CBC News

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, right, hands U.S. President Barack Obama the book titled The Open Veins of Latin America by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, during the Summit of the Americas on April 18, 2009, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

How differently things have turned out here in Port-of-Spain.

As late as last week, there were worries that if this fifth Summit of the Americas didn't achieve anything meaningful, it might also be the last Summit of the Americas.

There's no hand-wringing about that anymore.

Instead of the summit failing because it was overshadowed by regional tensions with the U.S. over Cuba and Venezuela, it may actually have succeeded for those reasons.

What most of the world has heard from the summit is that it lifted the curtain on at least the hope for a new era in U.S. relations with the hemisphere.

U.S. President Barack Obama's promise from his inaugural speech that an unclenched fist would be met with a handshake has become the defining image of the summit: the pictures of Obama and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, their hands clasped, their faces lit in warm smiles, toured the world on the weekend.

The basic civility of the gesture is overdue.

Remarkable events

Not long ago, the same Chavez stood before the UN General Assembly and compared then U.S. president George W. Bush to "the devil." Bush had spoken to the UN 24 hours earlier and Chavez said he could “still smell the sulphur” at the podium.

Now Chavez has nominated Roy Chaderton, Venezuela's ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), to be his ambassador to Washington. The U.S. expelled the former Venezuelan ambassador in a tit-for-tat last fall when Chavez kicked the U.S. ambassador out of his country. This is a small but meaningful step.

Even before the handshake and all that with Chavez, there were remarkable things happening between Washington and Havana.

The Obama administration announced at the beginning of last week that it would ease certain restrictions on Cuba, including allowing travel for relatives to visit their families in Cuba.

Cuban President Raoul Castro responded by inviting the U.S. to enter a dialogue in which all things would be up for discussion. He specifically mentioned human rights and political prisoners.

Obama said his administration will take that on, but not just for the sake of talk. He meant that he was interested in real progress in the relationship and that Castro had better mean that, too.

Among the most respected voices in the whole hemisphere is Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He weighed in at the summit this weekend, actually proposing that the next meeting, four years away, take place in Havana. Yes. Havana, Cuba.

Not everybody loves Obama

Imagine. It seems fanciful; Cuba isn't even a member of the Summit of the Americas and is still suspended from the Organization of American States. But, as da Silva noted, when rebuilding a relationship, you have to start somewhere.

It's not true that the whole hemisphere is in love with Obama.

U.S. Republicans obviously aren't, as well as about 12 per cent of Canadians, according to a recent poll.

But there is little doubt that many here are eager to be generous and give Obama the benefit of the doubt. For many, curiosity about this historic man and what he might mean is outweighing their reflexive suspicion and skepticism about U.S. motives and interests.

They're not putting history entirely behind them, however. As Chavez thrust one hand into Obama's palm at their first meeting, with the other he proffered a paperback published in the early 1970s titled: Open Veins of Latin America: Five centuries of the pillage of a continent. It is said to chronicle 500 years of U.S. and European exploitation of Latin America.

Obama took the book, but won't be dipping into it soon. It's written in Spanish and he doesn’t speak Spanish.

He will get the symbolism though: Chavez sees in Obama a new beginning for U.S. relations, but he also sees a president he believes has a lot to learn about his own country's history in the world.