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THIS Easter weekend, as President Barack Obama engages in further briefing sessions for his participation in the Fifth Summit of the Americas, he would already have had substantial intelligence/political indicators on what to expect from representatives of the various sub-regions whose representatives will be among selected speakers at the ceremonial opening and plenary sessions of the three-day (April 17-19) event.
It may not be the summit of "trial by fire" (euphemism for political fireworks) as the legendary retired former Cuban president, Fidel Castro, has written following his recent meeting in Havana with Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega.
But, judging from various reports, it appears that, from across the ideological spectrum, radical as well as liberal and conservative leaders of South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean region can be expected to raise voices in favour of the imperatives for a new beginning in USA-Cuba relations.
What may be done in more measured tones and less flamboyance at the estimated hour-long ceremonial opening at the Hyatt Hotel in Port of Spain on Friday evening of April 17, could well sharply contrast with what's expected from the floor during the following day's (Saturday) plenary session when this face-to-face baptism for Obama in the politics, culture, social and economic challenges takes place.
The 44th President of the USA could be expected to maintain his trademark "coolness" as he seeks to learn by "listening" - as he is fond of saying - about the deep-rooted social and economic problems facing the masses in the Latin America-Caribbean region - problems and challenges from which the USA cannot be dissociated - and why it must join in a new partnership model for sustainable development.
The official programme, with all its pomp and ceremony cast around an elaborate network of military/police security never experienced in the host country, is yet to be publicly announced. It could well be delayed until Air Force One is in the air heading for Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, April 17.
However, insider sources have indicated to this correspondent that the five speakers scheduled to address the opening session will be: President Obama, the Presidents of Argentina (Cristina Fernandez deKirchner) and Nicaragua (Daniel Ortega) and Prime Ministers Dean Barrow of Belize and Patrick Manning of Trinidad & Tobago, who will be the last speaker.
Normally done on a sub-regional basis, Argentina's deKirchner will speak on behalf of South America and Mexico; Nicaragua's Ortega will represent Central America, while Belize's Barrow is to speak for Caricom.
One of the surprises in arrangements for the summit is the absence of Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, from those expected to address the ceremonial opening session.
This, I have learnt, has resulted from "regrettable misunderstandings" involving the Port of Spain-based National Coordinating Committee, headed by Ambassador Luis Alberto Rodriguez, and was resolved by a "mature goodwill response" by the Canadian government.
Prime Minister Harper is now expected to be first to speak at the plenary session that begins on Saturday morning (April 18). That's when a range of other Heads of State and Government, among them Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who is reported to be planning a surprise of his own in relation to Cuba's absence by virtue of the original US-influenced exclusion from the Organisation of American States (OAS) in 1962.
The Venezuelan president, who had offered the excuse of "inconvenience" when host Prime Minister Manning recently sought to meet with him to discuss matters pertaining to this week's summit in Port of Spain, has planned a pre-summit conference of his ALBA group of countries (Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras, Cuba and Dominica (sole Caricom member and non-signatory to a military pact).
Established after the Caracas-initiated PetroCaribe project involving almost all countries of the Greater Caribbean as well as a number of Latin American states, ALBA is President Chavez's Bolivarian Alternative to the US-initiated Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), currently in cold storage.
Chavez had publicly called, prior to his scheduled April 14-15 "ALBA Summit" in Caracas, for Cuba-US relations to be placed on the agenda for this week's Fifth Summit of the Americas. It is therefore to be assumed that this will be one of the approved decisions to emanate from the hurriedly arranged ALBA Summit in Caracas.
Why Obama would be reluctant to take some positive initiatives for establishing normal relations with Cuba - the only country excluded from the councils of the 35-nation OAS, and just 90 miles away from America's shores - remains quite disturbing for many governments to be represented at the Port of Spain summit and conscious of his welcomed diplomatic gestures to far-off controversial nations like Iran.
Even in the USA, voices are being raised by lawmakers - Republicans and Democrats alike - for dialogue between Washington and Havana for an end to both Cuba's exclusion from the OAS and termination of America's almost half-a-century of a very punishing trade and economic embargo that the Cuban people have courageously and innovatively survived.
The outcome of the Group of 20 nations (G20) Summit in London, and its value or otherwise to the problems and challenges for the peoples of the Americas and the Caribbean will be among issues to be raised by delegations from the Caribbean Community.
RICKEY SINGH