PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Trading their warmest words in a half-century, the United States and Cuba built momentum toward renewed ties Friday, with President Barack Obama declaring he “seeks a new beginning” — including direct talks — with the island’s communist regime.
As leaders of the Americas gathered for a summit in this Caribbean nation, the head of the Organization of American States said he will ask his group to invite Cuba back after 47 years.
Analysts doubted Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, known for his political caution, would have done so without a nod from Washington, which contributes a huge portion of the organization’s budget.
In remarks kicking off the weekend gathering of nations, of which Cuba was the only country in the region not represented, Obama repeated the kind of remarks toward the Castro regime that marked his campaign for the presidency.
“The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba,” he said at the Summit of the Americas opening ceremony. “I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day.”
President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, in her remarks to the summit’s inaugural session, won applause when she called on the United States to lift the “anachronism that the embargo means today,” a reference to the nearly half-century-old U.S. ban on trade with Cuba.
The flurry of back-and-forth gestures began this week when Obama dropped restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, challenging his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, to reciprocate.
Obama noted the moves and renewed his promise for his administration to engage with the Cuban government “on a wide range of issues.”
Castro responded within hours to Obama’s policy changes this week. He extended Cuba’s most open offer for talks since the Eisenhower administration, saying he is ready to discuss “human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners — everything.”
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday, “We welcome his comments, the overture they represent, and we are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond.”
Obama also met with Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo Chavez, a Cuban ally and fierce critic of the United States.
