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POLITICS: Summit of Americas Ends with a
Whimper
By Peter Richards
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (IPS) - There
is only one signature on the Declaration of
Port of Spain, out of 34 slots.
Still, host Patrick Manning, the prime
minister of Trinidad and Tobago, insists
that the Fifth Summit of the Americas which
ended here on Sunday was a "success".
"The declaration itself did not have the
approval of all 34 countries," he conceded.
"Some countries had reservations about some
elements of it and that is understandable
because it is very difficult with 34
countries meeting and negotiating
positions."
However, he said, "There was consensus on
the matter and the prime minister of
Trinidad and Tobago, as chairman of the
conference, was authorised to sign the
document on behalf of all his colleagues,
and which I was happy to do"
The declaration was intended to outline a
blueprint for the future socio-economic
development of the Americas, but countries
like Mexico felt that the 97-page document
did not adequately deal with a host of
problems confronting the region.
"Some felt that the question of the (global)
economic and financial meltdown was not
sufficiently discussed in the document,"
said President Felipe De Jesus Calderon.
"There was also the question as to whether
or not we should continue to describe
ourselves as 'democratic countries'," he
added, a term many view as an implied
criticism of Cuba.
In a statement to reporters, former
secretary general of the Association of
Caribbean States (ACS) Norman Girvan said,
"In the circumstances, the leaders evidently
decided that it would be better for none of
them to sign, than for some to do so while
others abstained."
"This would have put their disagreement on
public display, exposing the signers to the
charge of being ‘sell-outs’ to the United
States; and the non-signers to the charge of
being ‘spoilers'," he said.
"The summit would have ended on a sour note.
And much of the progress made in setting a
new tone to U.S.-Latin American relations
would have been undone. Having the summit
chairman sign takes everyone else off the
hook," said Girvan, now a professorial
research fellow at the Graduate Institute of
International Relations at the University of
the West Indies.
"It was probably the ‘least bad’ compromise.
But it robs the Port of Spain Declaration of
much of its political force," he added.
Prior to the summit, the member countries of
the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples
of Our Americas (ALBA), led by Venezuela and
including Nicaragua and Bolivia, had vowed
not to sign the document in solidarity with
Cuba – which was not invited to this or
previous summits.
But Havana was adequately represented at the
three-day forum with the consensus being
there could be an even closer relationship
between Washington and the Americas’ only
Communist state in the future.
U.S. President Barack Obama himself left the
door open, indicating that he did not come
here to debate the past, and telling
reporters that he was not interested in
being part of a "show".
"I came here to deal with the future," he
said, adding that while it was important to
learn from history, "We can’t be trapped by
it."
Addressing the closing ceremony, Manning
admitted that the declaration, which had
been negotiated ahead of the Apr. 17-19
forum, did not "really reflect" the changing
global and political and social environment.
For example, negotiations over the
declaration had ended before the recent G20
Summit in London took place.
"Our deliberations took that into account
and came to the additional conclusion that
we were concerned about the allocation of
resources to development institutions,
particularly the Inter-American Development
Bank," Manning said.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said
that despite not signing the declaration,
the three-day event had been a success and
that the deliberations had confounded
critics who had anticipated a battle between
member states.
"I think the remarkable thing about the
summit was the failure to fulfill
expectations of great confrontation here. We
all came here I think believing that we
would have quite a battle among the
radically different perspectives that do
exist on certain subjects," Harper told a
news conference.
"That did not materialise, we saw the
replacement of confrontation with dialogue,
not a dialogue that lacked disagreement or
robust discussion but a dialogue that was
genuine and a chemistry among leaders and in
particular among the main protagonist (and)
that was very good."
Harper referred to Obama's address at the
start of the meeting, in which he outlined
the Washington's new approach, and the
reciprocation by other leaders, including
members of the ALBA "who have the most
divergent views from any of us" during the
conference.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also
labeled the summit a "total success"
indicating that a new "atmosphere" had been
created among the countries of the Americas.
"The encounter was an entire success that
led to a set of tacit commitments and others
expressly defined ... Of all the summits
that I have attended in this decade, without
doubt this was the most successful, one that
opened the doors to a new era of reasoning
among all countries," Chavez said.
"The Summit of the Americas, without being
perfect, was close to perfection," he added.
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