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Despite a host of weighty topics at the two-day Summit of the Americas in Colombia, much of the corridor chatter revolved around a scandal involving some of Obama's secret service agents sent home from Colombia for "misconduct."
A Colombian police source and U.S. media said prostitutes were involved, but there was a wall of official silence.
"I had a breakfast meeting to discuss trade and drugs, but the only thing the other delegates wanted to talk about was the story of the agents and the hookers," chuckled one Latin American diplomat in the historic city of Cartagena.
Latin American leaders, however, want the United States to be more engaged on issues like rapprochement with communist-led Cuba and an overhaul of anti-drug policies, including possible legalization as a way to take profits out of the trade.
And heck; I'm with them (from the same article.)
Latin American leaders, however, want the United States to be more engaged on issues like rapprochement with communist-led Cuba and an overhaul of anti-drug policies, including possible legalization as a way to take profits out of the trade.
Unlike the rock-star status he enjoyed at the 2009 Summit of the Americas after taking office, Obama has had a bruising time at the two-day meeting in Colombia of some 30 heads of state. Sixteen U.S. security personnel were caught in an embarrassing prostitution scandal before Obama arrived, Brazil and others have bashed him over U.S. monetary policy and he has been on the defensive over Cuba and calls to legalize drugs.
Due to the hostile U.S. and Canadian line on communist-run Cuba, the heads of state failed to produce a final declaration as the summit fizzled out on Sunday afternoon. "There was no declaration because there was no consensus," said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. He bristled at suggestions the summit had been a failure, however, saying the exchange of different views was a sign of democratic health.
For the first time, conservative-led U.S. allies like Mexico and Colombia are throwing their weight behind the traditional demand of leftist governments that Cuba be invited to the next Summit of the Americas. Cuba was kicked out of the Organization of American States (OAS) a few years after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, and has been excluded from its summits due mainly to U.S. opposition.
But Latin American leaders are increasingly militant in opposing to the 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo on the island. "The isolation, the embargo, the indifference, looking the other way, have been ineffective," Santos said. "I hope Cuba is at the next summit in three years." A major U.S. ally in the region who has relied on Washington for financial and military help to fight guerrillas and drug traffickers, Santos has become vocal over Cuba's inclusion even though he also advocates for democratic reform by Havana.
CLINTON PARTIES AT 'CAFE HAVANA'
That's alCIAduhs job.
