America
Obama hails warmth with Cuba, concerned over Venezuela
Washington, April 9
US President Barack
Obama has said that while the "historic" changes he has made in US
policy towards Cuba "are already showing results," neither the US nor
the rest of the region should "remain silent" about the situation in
Venezuela.
"It's no exaggeration to say that our relationship
with the Americas is the best it's been in many decades," Obama said
before attending the Summit of the Americas in Panama from April 10-11.
"We're
seeing increased contacts between the people of Cuba and the United
States, and the enthusiasm of the Cuban people for these changes proves
that we're on the right path," he said.
The talks that have
followed the announcement of normalisation of ties between Washington
and Havana last December are "the highest-level and most intense set of
bilateral discussions with Cuba in decades," according to the US
president.
"Our diplomats are making significant progress and I'm
confident that we will be able to move forward with the re-opening of
embassies," Obama told Efe.
Washington and Havana still have
"significant differences" over issues related to human rights, he said,
insisting that the US "will always support universal values such as
freedom of expression and freedom of assembly".
Obama, however,
said that neither the US nor the other countries in the region should
"remain silent" about the situation in Venezuela.
"We do not
believe that Venezuela poses a threat to the United States, nor does the
United States threaten the Venezuelan government," he said.
"But
we do remain very troubled by the Venezuelan government's efforts to
escalate intimidation of its political opponents, including the arrest
and prosecution of elected officials on political charges, and the
continued erosion of human rights," he said.
Last month, Obama
ordered sanctions on members of the Venezuelan government and declared
the situation there a "threat" to US national security, aggravating
already tense bilateral relations.
The two governments took a
step to ease tensions ahead of the summit with a meeting on Wednesday in
Caracas between US State Department senior adviser Thomas Shannon and
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, the highest-level bilateral
meeting in several years.