Obama Could Face Another Disastrous Summit Due to Sanctions Against Venezuela
Obama Could Face Another Disastrous Summit Due to Sanctions Against Venezuela
Posted: 04/09/2015 12:06 pm EDT Updated: 4 hours ago
The last Summit of the Americas, in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2012, was a disaster for President Obama. There were scandals involving Secret Service agents and sex workers, an increasing rebellion from the South against the failed U.S. "War on Drugs," and -- most of all -- unanimous opposition to the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
The most decisive evidence that this was not just the usual suspects stirring up trouble was the warning from President Manuel Santos of Colombia -- one of Washington's few "friendlies" in the region -- that there would not be another Summit without Cuba.
So President Obama offered up a surprise Christmas present to the United States' Southern neighbors last year: After more than a half-century of aggression against Cuba, he would finally begin to normalize relations. Welcome to the 21st century, finally! Although Republican jihadis and neocons would inevitably delay the process in Congress, the White House publicly expressed hope that there would at least be embassies open in the two countries before the Summit on April 10.
But the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away. On March 9 the White House declared a "national emergency" due to the "extraordinary threat to the national security" posed by Venezuela. The Obama administration tried to dismiss the language as a mere formality, but the world knows that such threatening language and accompanying sanctions can be quite hazardous to the designated country's health -- in the past they have sometimes even been followed by military action.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/obama-could-face-another_b_7033906.html
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Published on Friday, April 10, 2015
Obama Faces Latin American Opposition to Venezuela Sanctions as Cuba Joins Summit of the Americas
by Democracy Now!
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A woman holds a picture of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and a Cuban flag as she takes part in a march before the opening of the Peoples Summit to be held in parallel with the VII Americas Summit, in Panama City on April 9, 2015 (Photo: AFP/Johan Ordonez)
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President Obama has arrived in Panama to attend the Summit of the Americas along with other leaders from Canada, Central America, South America, the Caribbean — and for the first time, Cuba.
On Thursday, Obama announced the State Department has finished its review of whether Cuba should be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The move would allow the two countries to reopen their embassies and move forward on historic efforts to normalize relations that were announced in December. Meanwhile, the United States faces other tensions at the summit over its recent sanctions against Cuba’s close ally, Venezuela. An executive order signed by President Obama last month used the designation to sanction top Venezuelan officials over alleged human rights abuses and corruption.
This week, the United States announced it no longer considers the country a national security threat. Other topics expected to be on the summit’s agenda include trade, security and migration. Today, Democracy Now! speaks with two guests: Miguel Tinker Salas, professor of Latin American history at Pomona College and author of the new book, "Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know," and Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and president of Just Foreign Policy. His article in The Hill is headlined "Obama Could Face Disastrous Summit Due to Venezuela Sanctions."
Watch the segment:
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/10/obama-faces-latin-american-opposition-venezuela-sanctions-cuba-joins-summit-americas
