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Venezuela's Hugo Chávez gives Obama a book

The first full day of the Summit of the Americas began with a gift during President Barack Obama's Saturday morning meeting with Andean nations: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez walked over to Obama and handed him a book, in Spanish.

The book, Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina (The Open Veins of Latin America) by Eduardo Galeano is described by an unidentified Chilean delegate, as 'an academic book that is the basis for the 60s-era `dependency theory' that Latin America depends on the North,'' according to the White House media pool report.

Obama's response to the gift: ''I thought it was one of Chávez's books,'' he said. ''I was going to give him one of mine.'' The event began with Obama seated at the head of a U-shaped table. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet sat to his right. Chávez was at the far end of the table, on Obama's left.

Obama and Hugo Chávez shake hands at Summit

President Barack Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez shared a friendly handshake at the start of the Fifth Summit of the Americas Friday.

The Venezuelan government called the handshake ''historic'' and hinted that it was the first step toward thawing chilly relations between the two nations.

''Before the start of the inaugural session of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, the president of the United States Barack Obama approached the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and offered him a greeting,'' according to a statement released by the Venezuelan government.

Venezuela's Hugo Chávez rejects pending Summit of the Americas declaration

Venezuela ''will veto'' the final declaration due to be issued by this weekend's Fifth Summit of the Americas in neighboring Trinidad and Tobago, President Hugo Chávez said Thursday.

Chávez, who was in the eastern Venezuelan city of Cumaná for a pre-summit meeting with his closest allies -- including Cuba's Raúl Castro -- said the communique had been drafted, ``as if time had not passed.''

The summit in Port of Spain is seen as an opportunity for President Barack Obama's administration to begin to repair Washington's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, which reached a low point under former President George W Bush.

President Barack Obama tells Cuba's Raúl Castro: It's your move now

President Barack Obama sent a clear message Sunday to Cuban leader Raúl Castro: It's your turn.

If Castro wants to start dialogue with the United States, he should release political prisoners and lower the steep fees the Cuban government charges on money sent from abroad, Obama said.

In the meantime, his administration will examine what other steps can be taken toward ending decades of isolation between Washington and the hemisphere's last communist nation.

Obama to invest $30m to fight regional crime

In a 16-minute address punctuated by applause, United States President Barack Obama called on leaders of the Americas not to become "prisoners of past disagreements", but instead to look forward to a new beginning and to commit themselves to a new set of rules of engagement.

Anticipating that he might be in for a hard time from his Latin American counterparts, Obama said America has changed over time. But he stressed that it was important to remind his fellow leaders that it was not just the United States that has to change.

Obama was speaking at yesterday's grand, historic opening ceremony of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which was attended by the 34 leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been highly critical of the United States. The event, at which host Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, received a standing ovation as he entered the Regency Ballroom, was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Port of Spain.