Obama: Cuba must take next steps toward normalizing relations with U.S.

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Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad _ President Barack Obama resisted pressure Saturday from Latin American counterparts to lift the trade embargo with Cuba, countering that the steps he has taken to loosen travel restrictions will have to suffice for now.

Obama, appearing at a weekend summit of 34 Western Hemisphere nations in Trinidad, reiterated that he is committed to improving relations with Cuba.

"He said we are on a path of changing the nature of our relationship with that country," said a senior Obama administration official who briefed reporters on the meeting. "He is interested in dialogue but not talk for talk's sake."

Cuba's fate has come to dominate the Summit of the Americas, after an unexpected overture from the nation's president, Raul Castro, last week. But White House officials caution that before the U.S. normalizes relations, Cuba's leadership needs to take actions consistent with the new tone, such as releasing political prisoners, dropping fees imposed on money sent home to Cuba and freeing up the press.

A lighter undercurrent to the summit has been Obama's periodic encounters with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. On Friday they shook hands. And on Saturday morning, Chavez handed Obama a book, "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent," by Eduardo Galeano.

Chavez also said he expected to send an ambassador back to Washington soon, after a dispute in September in which each country expelled the other's ambassador.

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