Americas: Prepare to re-engage

A Trinidadian vendor shows a T-shirt with a portrait of U.S. President Barack Obama outside the hotel where leaders will meet for the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

You can ignore the speeches. The most important events during President Obama’s meeting with Latin American leaders at the Summit of the Americas this weekend will happen in the corridors.

Almost everyone who is anyone in Latin America and the Caribbean will be in Trinidad and Tobago. The stars are Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, with whom Obama has already had bilateral meetings, and the dynamic female presidents of Argentina and Chile, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Michelle Bachelet, respectively. They will set a tone of moderation at policy debates and embrace Obama as a the first American president in many years to generate genuine interest and popularity in Latin America.

The chances of confrontation are minimal. The “new leftists” are as starstruck by Obama as anyone. Evo Morales of Bolivia was on a hunger strike of several days to force legislators to support his electoral reforms, but he declared victory and is on his way to meet Obama.

And, yes, Hugo Chavez will be there. All will be watching. Warily. No fireworks are expected. Grandstanding, yes. The nasty exchanges between Obama and Chavez will be put aside (Obama singled out Chavez in a speech in January, calling him a demogogue who supports terrorism; Chavez said Obama was ignorant.) Forget those bygones. There will be hugs and smiles from Chavez.

Obama, a man of seemingly infinite confidence, is on unsure terrain, however, with Latin America, his area of least world experience and knowledge. I’ll be watching to see if the same advisors who counseled him to pick a fight with Chavez a few days before his inauguration will talk him into snubbing the effusive Venezuelan leader, avoiding any opportunities for friendly small talk.

Such an approach would be considered an ungracious distraction by the area’s leaders.

The official sessions will focus on the economy. The Latin Americans have been doing well in recent years, with steady growth and significant reductions in poverty indices. They want no more “lost decades” such as the 1980s, when dictatorships and debt stifled the region.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/the-americas/090417/americas-prepare-re-engage