Leaders of Latin American nations seem to be having a lot of fun together, looking forward to Obama administration

From Wikipedia in Latin: Anno 2005 Cuba bona per 6.9 miliones dollariorum importavit et sui principales commerciales socii hoc sensu Venetiola (27%), Sina (15.8%), Hispania (9.7%), Germania (6.5%), Canada (5.6%), Italia (4.4%) et Civitates Foederatae Americae (4.4%) fuerunt. Prominentes alimentariorum, fomitum, vestium, et technologicorum productorum generum importationes fuerunt.

Check out the jovial atmosphere at a meeting of heads of state of Latin American nations in Brazil here, part of which seeming to come from hopeful expectations towards the new administration once it takes office. One uncertain point is whether Barack Obama will restore trade relations with Cuba, but I believe that he will given the economic reasons, and the fact that opposition to trade with Cuba has dropped even among the Cuban-American community.

One report, produced by agricultural experts at Texas A&M for the Cuba Policy Institute in 2003, estimates that by merely lifting the travel ban the U.S. could bring anywhere from $126 to $252 million in new agricultural exports to Cuba and create nearly 7,000 new jobs.

Some interesting parts from the meeting:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he’s hopeful Obama can restore ties frayed under President George W. Bush. Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, citing Obama’s African heritage as a sign of change, called on him to end the five- decade U.S. “blockade” of Cuba. The region-wide summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders ends today.

The focus on Obama underscores the importance of the U.S., the region’s biggest trading partner, even as the summit’s organizers excluded President George W. Bush to send a message that Washington’s so-called backyard is breaking away. U.S. exports and imports to and from Central and South America both reached record levels last year of $107 billion and $134 billion respectively.

and:

Host Lula joked, to a roomful of laughs at Bush’s expense, that he would throw a shoe at Chavez unless the usually long- winded leader kept his remarks brief -- a reference to an incident in Baghdad on Dec. 14 when a reporter threw shoes at Bush during a news conference. After Chavez delivered a five minute speech, Lula told shocked participants they’d just witnessed the “real transformation in Latin America.”