Obama statement to Trinidad Express

By Barack Obama Thursday, April 16th 2009 As we approach the Summit of the Americas, our hemisphere is faced with a clear choice. We can overcome our shared challenges with a sense of common purpose, or we can stay mired in the old debates of the past. For the sake of all our people, we must choose the future.

Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbours. We have been too easily distracted by other priorities, and have failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas. My Administration is committed to renewing and sustaining a broader partnership between the United States and the hemisphere on behalf of our common prosperity and our common security.

We have already begun to move in a new direction. This week, we amended a Cuba policy that has failed for decades to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people. In particular, the refusal to allow Cuban Americans to visit or provide resources to their families

OAS intent on democracy

S ome have claimed that the Organization of American States is practicing a double standard by turning a blind eye to the abuse of individual rights or the manipulation of democratic practices in some countries by undemocratic means. They add that the organization is ignoring its own charter, as well as the Inter-American Democratic Charter, by inviting non-democratic regimes to rejoin our community of nations.

Now, with the recent events in Honduras, they have gathered more rhetorical ammunition to claim that the OAS is ignoring threats to democracy in some cases and actively subverting it in others. This is not the case.

As an international organization, the OAS answers to its member states. Much like the U.N. Security Council, where one nation can block bolder actions against rogue nations, the OAS operates by a longstanding tradition of consensus among members. Therefore, the organization's decisions often require extensive negotiations and discussions.

Healing the past, protecting the future

O ne of the most moving moments of my tenure as president of Peru occurred in August 2003, when our country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented me with its final report on the violence that had led to more than 70,000 deaths or disappearances at the hands of terrorist and paramilitary organizations during the previous decade.

It was not only a harrowing document -- and a historic milestone for Peru -- but also the first step in ending our long national tragedy.

Restoring trust in our democratic institutions had been among my top priorities when I was elected two years earlier. In response to the report, we created a high-level, diverse commission intended to bring about national reconciliation and to provide reparations to families and communities affected by the violence.

Americas need the OAS

T he rupture of democratic governance in Honduras in 2009 focused the attention of the hemisphere and the world on the Organization of American States (OAS). Analysts may differ in their understanding or acceptance of measures adopted by the OAS as it worked to resolve the Honduran crisis, but it is indisputable that the OAS was the forum of first recourse for concerned parties as well as a critical reference point for governments around the world as they determined national responses. While many lessons have been learned, the Honduran situation underscored the importance of the OAS for the Americas, particularly during moments of crisis.

Over the last 15 years, I have had the privilege to work in different capacities in the innermost circles of the Organization of American States (OAS) as a diplomat, political advisor and elected official. I have witnessed the Organization at moments of triumph, including the adoption of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in 2001, and I have seen its resolve in harnessing

Bill Clinton sees big opportunity for Haiti

An unprecedented trade mission to Haiti later this week will produce significant investments and desperately needed jobs for the country, former President Bill Clinton announced Tuesday at the Americas Conference.

``A number of commitments have already been made,'' Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, told several hundred Latin American and Caribbean business and community leaders attending the 13th annual Americas Conference. ``It's not appropriate for me to announce them. The people who are going should do the announcing.''

Clinton used an appearance at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables to give what he called his ``progress report'' on Haiti since U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked him to devote a year to helping a storm-ravaged Haiti rebuild and attract investments.