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US President Barack Obama broke into a smile as he walked down the steps of Air Force One at Piarco International Airport, Trinidad at 3.20 pm yesterday. Meanwhile cries of “Hail, Presidente!” were emitted from the lips of the Venezuelan contingent of media personnel who had gathered at the entrance to the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

The excitement at Chavez sharply contrasted with the disappointment felt when US President Barack Obama didn’t walk through the said huge doors. When Chavez and his contingent arrived, reporters mobbed him. They closed upon him and cameras clicked like wildfire. Chavez chatted animatedly in Spanish before joining the other 33 heads of the Americas.

Awaiting the 44th US president were his two vehicles, commonly called, “Beast 1” and “Beast 2”. On the front fenders of the “Beasts,” were the US and Trinidad and Tobago flags, fluttering in the breeze. Within minutes, Obama was seated alone in the back seat of ‘Beast 1’.

The Secret Service agents who accompanied him on his journey to Mexico, as well as those who flew into Trinidad earlier this week, then left in a number of US vehicles, flown into this country to escort the President. The local plain-clothes officers had to take a back seat as the Secret Service agents took full control of their President. They flew in all their vehicles, including a truck equipped with all their wireless needs, and an armoured vehicle with their own weaponry.

Disappointment marked many faces of fans who, having for hours awaited the arrival of US President Barack Obama at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Port of Spain yesterday, were finally cheated of the opportunity of seeing him. Rather than being driven through the hotel's entrance , like the other Heads of Government/State, Obama was taken through Dock Road to enter the hotel through the rear.

Even US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton-although her entourage drove through the hotel's driveway-went through a back door.  

 "I want to be your friend," tough-talking Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told US President Barack Obama yesterday, when both men came face to face minutes before the formal opening of the Fifth Summit of the Americas at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.

The two leaders, whose countries have had strained relations over the past few years, shook hands as they met in the lobby area of the hotel, just moments before the opening ceremony.

The Venezuelan Communications and Information Ministry said in a press release that President Obama "got closer to extend a greeting to him".

"They shook hands in an historic greeting after several years of tension during the George Bush administration, when relations between Washington and Caracas had deteriorated," the release added.

“Let me be clear. I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking. But I do believe we can move US/Cuban relations in a new direction,” Obama said at yesterday’s launch of the Fifth Summit of the Americas. Obama’s announcements comprised his introductory “handshake” in meeting the US’s 33 other colleagues in the Organisation of American States (OAS) gathering at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain yesterday.

“While the US has done much on behalf of peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged or sought to dictate our terms...But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership,” he said.

“There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations; there is simply engagement based upon mutual respect, common interests, and shared values.” In an indirect reply to Ortega’s criticisms, Obama added: “To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. We’ve all heard these arguments. “I didn’t come here to debate the past, I came here to deal with the future. As neighbours, we have a responsibility to each other and to our citizens,” he said.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning and CARICOM chairman Dean Barrow yesterday both endorsed calls for Cuba to be re-integrated into the institutions of the western hemisphere. Obama, who outlined his moves to seek a “new beginning with Cuba.” “I know there is a longer journey that must be travelled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day,” he said. “I have already changed a Cuba policy that has failed to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people.” Recounting recent concessions towards Cuba, Obama said, “Over the past two years, I have indicated, and I repeat today, that I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues, from human rights, free speech, and democratic reform to drugs, migration, and economic issues.”