A balmy breeze blows in Trinidad but the good times were sputtering in the Western Hemisphere before the credit crunch, notes Gamal Nkrumah on the summit of the Americas "I think President Obama is an intelligent man in sharp contrast to the previous United States president," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez exclaimed in his candid manner at the beginning of the Fifth Americas Summit held in the tiny Caribbean island-nation of Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend. Such a lovely place -- even though the host Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning looked far from his assertion that he was "extremely pleased" after the party was over. Not one to mince his words, Chavez called the shots in the Trinidadian capital Port of Spain. The sauciness may be characteristic of the charismatic Venezuelan leader, and the import of his remark is not open to question. The United States has forced its way back into the Latin American consciousness but in a uniquely unfamiliar fashion. The famous handshake was printed in newspapers around the world. Chavez and Obama shook hands in public and smiled before the cameras. They both left Trinidad's Piarco International Airport in a pensive mood, though. Even those with little knowledge of the power games at the Trinidad summit had little choice but to join in. In Trinidad, Obama did not hide his winning erudition. It was obvious that Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Evo Morales of Bolivia -- the three closest leftist allies of Chavez -- were not hood- winked. Obama is a poster boy for the rarely claimed redemptive capabilities of his race. He is liked for his genial personality, poise and perspicacity. Chavez, in sharp contrast excels at playing the popular misfit wont to roam the world for a punch-up with American imperialism. Ironically, a contrast in their personalities was epitomised in their early exit from the Trinidad summit -- for contrastingly different reasons, both excusing themselves on grounds of urgent business back home. Neither stayed for the farewell photo secession and both expressed simultaneously cautious optimism and disappointment with certain attitudes of their adversaries. Psychological subservience of South American presidents to their North American counterpart is a particularly sensitive subject in the Americas. But what if he happens to be black? And, it is against this odd backdrop that the Port of Spain summit was the heralding of a hemispheric rapprochement. Cuba was the buzzword throughout the summit. Hurricanes last year wreaked havoc on the Cuban economy costing the Caribbean island-nation about a fifth of its gross domestic product. Chavez called Obama's predecessor George W Bush a "poor idiot". Idiot he may well be, but poor he is not. The point, however, is: simplistic as it may seem, Chavez's assertion is as good an explanation as one can get for how this huge and hugely expensive gathering manages to mess things up just when prospects are looking so good. Yet Chavez's words of wisdom are often precisely what are needed to shake up a somewhat complacent Western world. Satire is a perilous business, but in Trinidad nobody was seriously hurt. Obama lifted all travel and remittance restrictions on Cuban-Americans. Obama's relaxation of sanctions against Cuba was widely welcomed, but Obama's insistence that Cuba adopt more democratic ways left Cuba's sympathisers cold. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton openly admitted that Washington's attempts to isolate Cuba and strangle it economically were a failure. Cuban President Raul Castro, the only leader of a Western Hemisphere nation not to be invited to the Americas summit on the grounds that his Caribbean island-nation is undemocratic, said that he is prepared to meet Obama anytime, anyplace. Castro said that he was ready to talk about "everything" with Obama. "We have started on the right foot," Chavez mused. "It's time to have a true start of a new history, for there to be balance, that there's an end to the mechanisms of domination," he quickly added. The upbeat sanguineness of Chavez was infectious. Leaders of the Americas urged Obama to move expeditiously to lift the 47-year old embargo by the US against Cuba. Chavez presented Obama with a copy of Eduardo Galeano's best-selling classic Open the Veins of Latin America, in which the author scrutinised the exploitation of the continent by the West over a period of five centuries beginning with Spanish colonisation and ending with US hegemony. Galeano's bombshell was four decades ago. So what now? The Western Hemisphere is jolted into wakefulness by the appearance of Obama in the international arena. A person of colour is now at the helm in Washington. Still, he represents the interests of the hated "Yankees" of yesteryear. The point Chavez was making was that Galeano's masterpiece was as relevant today as when it was first published. A group of leftist Latin American countries headed by Venezuela, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), declined to sign the Final Declaration of the Trinidad Summit in protest over the demeaning way the US treats its southern neighbours. The wimpy tone of the Final Declaration was radically different from the forceful remarks of the opening session, but it was Obama's hurried departure without signing it and his refusal to participate in the traditional group photo that was replete with symbolism. The bottom line is that the fundamentals of the relationship have not changed as ALBA's sulk suggests: Washington continues to cultivate its favourites -- Columbia and Mexico -- strengthening their military capabilities, turning them into bulwarks against the ALBAs of the hemisphere. The economic indicators have wrong-footed the analysts. The continent has bounced back, even in light of the global financial crisis. As the Federal Reserve painted a gloomy picture of the US economy and oil prices soared in 2008, the South American economies surged. Latin America's mood is upbeat. Several South American countries were lulled into complacency by high growth rates achieved on the back of easy global liquidity. But countries like Columbia refuse to hit the wall as a result of the global financial crisis. The international financial crisis, however, compelled the body politic of South America to address the fundamental deficiencies of the continent's economies. Which makes this as good a time as any to recall the most remarkable features of US-South American relations. Minerals of resource-rich South America contributed to its buoyancy, but then so did cocaine. Obama met with the leaders of the world's three biggest cocaine producers -- Columbia, Bolivia and Peru. In Trinidad, Latin leaders had an awfully jolly time, indeed. The continent, nevertheless, finds itself caught in a Hotel California conundrum. This could be heaven or this could be hell. "I believe that at the next summit in three year's time, it is reasonable to think that Cuba will be present," announced the Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States (OAS) Jose Miguel Insulza. Cuba was unceremoniously kicked out of the OAS in 1962 at Washington's bidding. That Cuba is proposing today to host the next Americas summit even before it is actually re-admitted to the OAS is astounding. "The whole continent favours the entrance of Cuba in this summit. There is no longer an explanation for Cuba's exclusion," Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva summed up the Latin consensus at the Trindad summit. "I believe we will likely see a positive evolution in the relations between the US and Latin America. It is possible to create a new dynamic of partnership and contribution," Lula added. Dangerous territory? Well, dangerous it might well be, but it is certainly unchartered territory. Obama, too, called on the leaders of the Western Hemisphere to "move forward with a new sense of partnership". Bush left the last Summit of the Americas in Mar Del Plata, Argentina in 2005 in disgrace after an altercation with Chavez and after Bush dodged anti-US protesters. In sharp contrast, the leaders of the Americas assembled in Trinidad were heartened by Obama's unexpected offer to thaw ties between Washington and Havana frozen for nearly 50 years. The intercontinental gridlock is still unfolding. It is widely anticipated that the American economy will rebound quickly and impressively. That will permit South America to continue its catch up with North America. "A new beginning", the 44th president of the US proclaimed, heralding a new era. Obama moved this week to permit Cuban Americans to visit relatives in Cuba and facilitate the transfer of money from the US to Cubans in the Caribbean Communist island-nation. "We cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements," Obama noted. "I didn't come here to debate the past -- I came here to deal with the future," he insisted. "I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues -- from drugs to migration, economic issues to human rights, free speech and democratic reform," Obama declared. His Cuban counterpart Raul Castro agreed. "We have sent word to the US government in private and in public that we are willing to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything," Castro explained. "There is a willingness on Obama's part to work in a new direction with Latin America and the Caribbean and we share that vision," approved Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. It is possible that the pattern will continue to surprise on the upside. It is also possible to imagine a bleaker scenario. That is not necessary a reason to panic. Pink, as opposed to red, leftists like President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and her Argentinean counterpart Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, dressed to the hilt, were like jilted lovers spurned by their beau at the photo op. They did not count on the ill wind that blew them to Trinidad to carry off their prince. They were left with a bunch of moderate Caribbean leaders at the final photo session. Obama and the deep red radicals had already flown home. "The summit, though not perfect, was close to perfection," Chavez characteristically summed up. "Cordiality prevailed and the summit successfully led to a new atmosphere." There's plenty of room at the Hotel California.
