Special Report: Barack Obama: The 44th U.S. President

Backgrounder: Things to watch at 5th Summit of the Americas

    HAVANA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The world will know if the United States, under President Barack Obama, is willing to change its policy towards the region at the fifth Summit of the Americas, Cuban state-run newspaper Granma said Thursday.

    Obama, the first U.S. president to attend the summit, will lead a 1,000-member U.S. delegation to Trinidad and Tobago, where all the hemisphere's nations will show up except Cuba.

    Many nations expect that Obama will move to lift the 50-year-old U.S. economic blockade on Cuba.

    Granma described the U.S. policy alternatives as either "the great garrote" or "good neighbor," echoing the phrases used by former U.S. presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt.

    "The failure of neo-liberalism, the global economic crisis and Obama's rise to power has created great expectations for a new agenda for U.S. policies on security, economy and foreign relations," the newspaper said.

    Obama pledged Thursday to renew and sustain a "broader partnership" with other states in the Western hemisphere. The Cuba issue, though not on the official agenda, is expected to be raised during the three-day summit.

Obama says U.S. expects signals of change from Cuba

    WASHINGTON, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States expects to see signals of change from Cuba, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday.

    "What we're looking for is some signals that there are going to be changes in how Cuba operates," Obama told CNN television hours before his departure for his first official visit to Mexico as American president.  Full story