Dispatch From The OAS Summit In Trinidad

There is no question that America's prestige was enhanced by President Obama's recent trip to the Organization of American States' (OAS) Summit in Trinidad.  Leaders of the 33 nations in attendance were not only impressed by the President's diplomacy; they were obviously heartened by the belief, inspired by the President, that our country had dramatically changed directions in its dealings with our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean.

President Obama's appeals for mutual respect and the opening of doors of friendship and trade, signaling a new era of partnership, were well received.  So too, was the President's stated desire to assist the poor with bottom-up approaches to economic relations, development assistance and lending to small countries reeling under the stress of the economic crisis.  The atmosphere of cooperation could not have been more different from the bullying tones of the past that our southern neighbors had come to expect from the U.S.

The President's delegation traveling aboard Air Force One included seven Members of Congress, with New York represented by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and myself.  The first stop was Mexico City, where the delegation met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.  His country is mired in a horrible crisis of drug trafficking and related violence, which claimed 6,000 lives last year.  Pledging a full partnership in fighting the drug cartels, President Obama told Calderon he would increase prosecutions of drug traffickers as well as smugglers of U.S. weapons which have turned drug gangs into a threat to the  Mexican government as well as U.S. border towns.

Leaving Mexico, we flew to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, the main venue for the Summit.  As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, I joined with Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, in bi-lateral meetings with leaders of several countries in the region.  Among them were President Martin Torrijos of Panama and President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, who are seeking free trade agreements with the U.S.

I also met with President Rene Preval of Haiti.  For many years, this long-suffering country has been on my personal agenda.  The HOPE bill which I spearheaded in Congress, has increased U.S. imports, creating jobs on the island.  But dire poverty continues to wrack the population.  Our message on behalf of President Obama, with the strong support of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was that the U.S. would seek to do more.

In a subsequent meeting with the entire delegation of Caribbean countries, Congressman Eliot Engel hosted a free-wheeling discussion of ways to improve the Caribbean Basin Initiative, another trade liberalizing program that I had spearheaded in Congress.

Throughout the visit, President Obama's attractive, calm and respectful demeanor evoked a spirit of goodwill that surprised even the best of our friends in the region and disarmed those who might have been critical of previous U.S. policies.  Prime Minister Patrick Manning of the host country described the positive feelings as "beyond the wildest dreams of any of us."  Even President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who had deemed to call President Bush "the devil," told the new President he wanted to be his friend and offered to reestablish normal diplomatic relations.

The positive impact was based on far more than President Obama's style.  Before departing for the Summit, he removed all restrictions on travel by residents of the U.S. to visit family members in Cuba and to send remittances to the island.  Though Cuba is not a member of the OAS, it is viewed sympathetically by other nations in the hemisphere, who universally condemn the U.S. embargo.

The President's move on the Cuba issue was widely praised by participants at the Summit, where it was viewed not only as a harbinger of change in policy toward the island, but as a signal of President Obama's willingness to turn the page on outmoded and aggressive policies toward the region.  President Obama himself pointed to President Raoul Castro's expressions of willingness to discuss political prisoners and other controversial issues as a sign of progress in his new approach.

At a closing press conference in Port-of-Spain, the President outlined his intention to formulate a new policy of engagement with the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean. He called for a more humane, all-encompassing approach that went beyond drug interdiction and military cooperation, and pledged to work closely on a wide array of issues, including climate change, security threats, and economic development.

President Obama's trip represented the start of a new brand of relations with our closest neighbors that will increase our prestige around the world.  That's a policy I'm proud to be part of.