This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Obama, in Jamaica, Seeks to Reassert U.S. Influence in Caribbean
State Department Review of Cuba’s Status on Terrorism List Is Complete, Obama Says
(about 3 hours later)
KINGSTON, Jamaica — President Obama is expected to use a meeting of Caribbean nations on Thursday to try to reassert American influence in the region and press its leaders to pursue alternative energy solutions that would loosen their reliance on oil from Venezuela.
KINGSTON, Jamaica — President Obama said Thursday that the State Department had completed its review of whether to remove Cuba from its list of nations that sponsor terrorism, but he added that he had not yet received a final recommendation and was not ready to announce a decision.
Mr. Obama and Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz arrived here Wednesday night, ahead of a day of meetings focused on trade and energy use and production in the Caribbean basin.
“Our emphasis has been on the facts,” Mr. Obama said of considering Cuba’s removal from the State Department’s terrorism list, where it has remained for more than 30 years.
The gathering is a prelude to a larger meeting of Latin American nations, the Summit of the Americas, which opens on Friday in Panama City. Mr. Obama’s push to normalize relations with Cuba, and tensions with Venezuela, are likely to overshadow a crowded policy agenda there.
Removing it would clear a major obstacle to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, as the two former political enemies advance toward their closest ties in half a century.
Both stops this week are efforts by the president to improve relations and strengthen American engagement with smaller and less wealthy neighbors. The push for stronger Caribbean ties comes as an economic crisis intensifies in Venezuela, whose subsidized oil is used by most Caribbean countries.
The review was ordered by Mr. Obama in December, when he and President Raúl Castro of Cuba agreed to restore diplomatic ties and move toward normal relations. The State Department looked at whether Cuba had engaged in terrorism activity in the last six months — the criteria for designating a country as a state sponsor of terrorism.
American officials say they are eager to work with Caribbean partners — 14 of whom will participate in meetings with Mr. Obama on Thursday — on alternative energy solutions. They also want to demonstrate a commitment to a region they concede has sometimes felt ignored by the United States.
Speaking after a meeting here with Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller of Jamaica, Mr. Obama said that the State Department’s determination was now going through an interagency review that has not yet been finished.
Mr. Obama, the first American president to visit Jamaica since 1982, will also meet on Thursday with Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, and he will hold a town-hall-style meeting with young people before departing for Panama.
The timing left open the possibility that he could announce a final decision at the Summit of the Americas opening in Panama on Friday, where he hopes to highlight momentum toward the diplomatic opening with Cuba. At the summit, any face-to-face interactions Mr. Obama has with Mr. Castro — the first since the president announced the policy shift — will be scrutinized for their symbolic significance.
The Caribbean outreach comes amid strained relations between the Obama administration and President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, who has reacted angrily to an executive order by Mr. Obama that froze assets of midlevel Venezuelan officials suspected of human rights abuses or violations of due process.
“There’s a process involved,” Mr. Obama said. “I won’t make a formal announcement today about what those recommendations are until I receive them.”
The order described Venezuela as a threat to United States national security, a charge that senior American officials have recently tried to soften, arguing that it was merely pro forma language that accompanies any such sanctions.
Mr. Obama was attending a gathering of Caribbean leaders here on his way to the summit in Panama. It will be Mr. Castro’s first time attending the Summit of the Americas, from which his country had been barred because of Cuba’s 1962 expulsion from the Organization of American States at the United States’ behest. American officials have not ruled out the possibility of a one-on-one meeting between Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro.
Mr. Maduro says he has collected millions of signatures in a petition calling for the sanctions to be lifted, and that he will deliver the document to Mr. Obama during the summit meeting. A top State Department official made an unexpected trip on Wednesday to Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, for a round of diplomatic maneuvering before the regional meeting begins on Friday.
Cuba’s removal from the list would allow Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro to enter the summit with a significant sign of progress to show for the months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between their governments that have followed the December announcement. It would also mark a crucial milestone in Mr. Obama’s effort to turn the page on a Cold War-era grudge.
But the dispute could nevertheless play out at the gathering, where Mr. Obama is hoping to highlight his move toward easing tensions with Cuba and a corresponding tightening of ties throughout Latin America.
The dynamics are less complicated in Jamaica, where Ms. Simpson-Miller was waiting on Wednesday night at the foot of Air Force One to embrace Mr. Obama upon his arrival in Kingston. Before turning in for the night, the president made a brief tour of the Bob Marley Museum, in a large Victorian house adjacent to a palm tree-shaded courtyard with red, yellow and green walls. Mr. Marley’s “One Love” could be heard during Mr. Obama’s visit.
As he took in Marley memorabilia, the president reminisced about his days of listening to the reggae legend.
