Obama kicks up storms at Summit of Americas

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago —- An interesting and eventful day at the Summit of the Americas on Saturday: Cuba, the only country not invited, was a central focus of the meeting for a second day; the fiery leftist leader of Venezuela presented President Barack Obama with a book on how European and U.S. interests had interfered with Latin America; and the U.S. energy secretary warned that unchecked global warming may one day obliterate the summit’s host country.

President Hugo Chavez, who once likened George W. Bush to the devil, told Obama in English that “I want to be your friend,” and said he inscribed the book: “For Obama, with warm regards.”

White House aides later said that the president may not be able to read “The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent,” by Eduardo Galeana. They explained that he, um, has a lot to read already, and anyway he doesn’t read or speak Spanish.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers cautioned reporters not to put too much stock in the presidents’ multiple grips and grins: “Relationships depend on more than smiles and handshakes,” Summers said.

On the matter of Cuba, meanwhile, the day after Obama pledged a new future in Washington’s relations with Havana, Obama sought to tamp down expectations of a quick thaw, while other leaders at the summit insisted that the future is now.

That message followed the president throughout the day on Saturday and even upstaged a photo-op with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, when a reporter asked Obama whether he was taking tips from Canada’s policy of open engagement with Havana.

“I take tips from Canada on a lot of things,” he said with a smile, and kept walking.

An exchange of conciliatory overtures between Obama and President Raul Castro of Cuba has started a buzz of speculation about more substantive dialogue.

And the crack in the door Obama had opened for new engagement with Cuba felt more like unlocking a floodgate.

For the first time, some diplomats said, the question being asked was when —- not whether —- the next move will be made.

The meetings on Saturday made clear, however, that there remains deep disagreement about which country should make that move, and what it should be.

Obama spent much of the day trying to fend off the mounting pressure by saying that the ball was in Cuba’s court.

His aides outlined a series of steps the hemisphere’s last remaining dictatorship could do to demonstrate a willingness to open its closed society, including releasing political prisoners, allowing United States telecommunications companies to operate on the island and ending government fees on money sent to Cubans by relatives living abroad.

“As we said earlier this week, we will continue to evaluate and watch what happens,” said Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman.

“We’re anxious to see what the Cuban government is willing to step up to do.”

But Latin American leaders continued to press the United States to do more, expressing almost unanimous condemnation for its 47-year-old trade embargo.

“If the objective is to see change in Cuba,” Harper of Canada said in an interview with The New York Times, “it’s hard to see how a trade embargo would do anything other than keep the economic system closed.”

As for fears that Trinidad and Tobago might one day cease to exist, Energy Secretary Henry Chu, traveling with Obama to the summit, told reporters Saturday that Obama had pushed his fellow leaders to work on how to counteract rising temperatures.

Chu noted that global warming will lead to more damaging hurricanes and rising oceans. He called those results scary and said they could wipe out island countries such as Trinidad and Tobago.

And a few final notes on Venezuela: Chavez announced Saturday that, seven months after ordering the U.S. ambassador out of Caracas —- and seeing his own ambassador kicked out of Washington in response —- the Venezuelan president is now seeking to send a new envoy to the U.S.

Chavez announced his proposal on Saturday after a day of consultations with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other U.S. diplomats.

And the 1971 tome “Open Veins of Latin America,” the one given by Chavez to Obama, zoomed from roughly nowhere to No. 13 on Amazon.com’s bestseller list by Saturday night.