The Summit of the Americas was held for the first time in the Caribbean region in our sister state of Trinidad and Tobago and from all reports it was a success, both from an organisational standpoint and in terms of its deliberations.

It was indeed an historic event for the people of the Caribbean, as the event was graced by the presence of the first black US President Barack Obama.

The successful hosting of the mega event is a demonstration of the capabilities of the people of this region who were once regarded as being backward, “happy go lucky,” and lacking in the ability to organise and host mega events. But the successful hosting of several major international events apart from the just concluded including Cricket World Cup, world beauty pageants and the Rio Summit in Guyana among others should finally put to rest the pessimistic and negative views of the people of the Caribbean.

However, the outcome of this summit has presented optimism and hope on several burning issues such as the Cuban embargo, which was a focal point, issues pertaining to exports from the region to the US and mending of fences between the US and South America as tensions grew as a result of several leftists government taking power across Latin America.

With respect to the Cuban embargo, President Obama has indeed broken new ground and has clearly signalled a diversion from the hard line stance of his predecessors. This is something which the people and governments of Latin America and the Caribbean have been urging the US to do for a very long time now. Of course the embargo has not been lifted but certainly the platform has been laid for that and who knows it may come sooner than we anticipate. The easing of the restrictions on sending of money and travel to Cuba is a huge step forward on the path to normalisation of US/Cuba relations.

In his address at the opening of the Summit President Obama was unambiguous and forthright on his pronouncements on relations with Cuba.

“Let me be clear: I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking. But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.”

“Over the past two years, I have indicated — and I repeat today — that I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues — from human rights, free speech, and democratic reform to drugs, migration, and economic issues.”

And therefore President Jagdeo was correct in describing President Obama’s approach as an enlightened one which gives the people of this region hope.

Guyana’s Head of State noted that President Obama’s leadership style is a welcome departure from his predecessors whereby he is willing to sit at the table with fresh ideas and a new civilised approach based on goodwill and engaged leaders of the Americas with the understanding that “we may not all agree on every issue, but at least we can disagree respectfully.”

He also pointed out that President Obama sat through almost all of the plenary sessions accompanied with a high level delegation including Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton.

According to President Jagdeo this is quite unusual for a Head of State of his stature to do that.

From these observations of President Jagdeo it is evident that there has been a change in course by the US under the Presidency of Obama. In fact, he campaigned for the presidency under the theme of change. And from his pronouncements at the summit he certainly has brought a change in the US approach to relations with Latin America, particularly, with respect to those countries where leftist governments are in power.

On this score Mrs. Clinton made a stirring revelation when she said ideology is not the issue but rather the US to seek how to help other countries. Former US administrations made it clear that they will not tolerate or have strong ties with leftist governments and in fact worked both overtly and covertly to destabilise or overthrow such governments. The examples are numerous — some of which include Guyana, Cuba, Guatemala, Chile and Nicaragua. With respect to the latter the then US administration openly supported the Contras rebels who were involved in a war to overthrow the Ortega government. Eventually, through heavy US financing of the political parties the Ortega government was removed. However, today Ortega has returned to government and the US has to face yet another leftist government.

The summit has definitely done a lot to help heal the wounds of the past and President Obama’s “enlightened approach” has significantly contributed to this.

So the ground work has been laid for easing of tensions between Latin America and the US and the forging of a new chapter in bilateral and multilateral relations based on mutual respect and benefits. It is now left to the leaders of the Americas to consolidate on this most welcome platform.