YET ANOTHER SUMMIT

by RAY FLEMING
PRESIDENT Obama cannot expect as easy a ride when he attends the OAS Summit of the Americas in Trinidad tomorrow as he had in Europe and Turkey two weeks ago. There was a time when the agenda of the Organisation of American States (also once known as the Alliance for Progress) was largely determined by the United States and the great majority of the 34 South and Central American and Caribbean member states were happy to go along with that in return for America's protection and economic assistance. Since the last Summit meeting, however, there has been a pronounced move to the left in countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua and several others are more questioning about American policies in the region than before. They will, of course, want to hear what President Obama has to say about any changes he intends to make to the policies followed by his predecessor. Cuba is not a member of the OAS, for reasons that are well known. Mr Obama's recent move to relax some of the restrictions on links between the US and Cuba was probably designed to please tomorrow's Summit. It will be welcomed but it will not be enough - the trade embargo, the most significant of all US measures against Cuba, remains in place despite evidence that American public opinion would like to see it ended. There will be many calls for its early removal from the leaders attending the Summit.