When Trinidad & Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning and other leaders of the Americas began a move to admit Cuba to this weekend's fifth summit of the Americas in Port of Spain,Trinidad, Washington stopped them in their tracks, announcing that Cuba will not be on the agenda for the meeting of 34 democratically elected leaders of the Americas.
But Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and some Latin American leftist leaders have persisted in the campaign, saying everyone at the summit should demand to know why Cuba is being left out of the family.
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On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama appeared to soften his stand on Cuba by announcing some dramatic changes in U.S. policy, while insisting that the decades-old trade embargo will remain.
He has argued that keeping the embargo provides leverage to pressure the regime to free all political prisoners as one step toward normalized relations with the U.S.
The president directed his administration to allow unlimited travel and money transfers by Cuban Americans to family in Cuba. The intention, according to a senior official, is to lessen Cubans' dependence on the communist regime. The ripple effect, the U.S. hopes, would be to encourage Cubans to demand progress on political freedoms.
While it might appear that Obama's move is an attempt to pre-empt pro-Cuba rhetoric ahead of the Trinidad summit to let leaders focus on the main theme of the two day gathering it is clear that Obama's move is one that has been planned for a long time.
It has been known for over a week that he would announce some change in advance of his attendance of this weekend's Summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
In effect he is merely keeping his campaign promises. In a speech to the U.S. Cuban-American community in Florida during the presidential campaign Obama said, "There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans...It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers, their sisters and brothers. It's time to let Cuban American money make their families less dependent upon the Castro regime."
He also promised to engage in direct diplomacy with Cuba, "without preconditions" but with "careful preparation" and "a clear agenda."
The administration is taking other steps to woo Cuba to its way of thinking. These include expanding the things allowed in gift parcels being sent to Cuba, such as clothes, personal hygiene items, seeds, fishing gear and other personal necessities.
An official told reporters the administration also will begin issuing licenses to allow telecommunications and other companies to provide cell and television services to people on the island, and to allow family members to pay for relatives on Cuba to get those services.
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