Much has changed politically and socially in the Americas since the last summit [Reuters]

Expectations for an important shift in relations between the US and its southern neighbours are high as leaders from every country in the Americas - with the exception of Cuba - gather in Trinidad and Tobago for the fifth summit of the Americas. 

The summit was launched in 1994, with a clear mandate to establish a "hemispheric free trade zone" of the Americas, reaching from Alaska in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south by 2005.

A lot has happened since then and the political map of Latin America, particularly South America, has changed radically. 

A region that for more than a century took its cue from Washington, and was often ruled by US-backed military governments, is now led almost entirely by left or centre-left governments which have declared their political and economic independence.

'Equal' relationship

And Latin American and Caribbean leaders are also interested in something else. 

They are looking for a different, more equal kind of relationship with the world's biggest superpower, and for the first time, the president of the US seems to be willing to listen. 

"Times have changed," said Barack Obama in an interview with a Spanish language television network.

"I think it's important for the US not to tell other countries how to ... structure their democratic practices and what should be contained in their constitutions."

US-Chavez meeting

Chavez is not one to mince his words over his opinion of the US [AFP]

He will come face to face for the first time with the new US president.

"The summit is an opportunity to reset Latin America's relations with the United States," says Chavez. 

Nevertheless, on the eve of the summit of the Americas,  the Venezuelan leader hosted a meeting of ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America) with the presidents of Nicaragua, Cuba and Bolivia, in which he said he and others would veto the US-backed  final declaration of the summit, because it is "misplaced in time and space".

"Let us hope that the president of the United States goes there to listen," added Chavez.

"We are going to speak our truth."

Cuba pressure

Raul Castro has said he is willing to talk to the US about 'anything' [AFP]

The one-party state was expelled in 1962 from the Organisation of American States (OAS) under whose auspices the summit of the Americas is held. 

Every nation in Latin America and the Caribbean is calling for the US to end its 47-year economic and political embargo against Cuba, and Obama will be reminded that the rest of the region wants Cuba brought back into the fold.  

On the eve of the summit, the US president did announce measures aimed at "reaching out to the Cuban people", which include lifting restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba by Cuban-Americans. 

But regional leaders say that is not enough.

"I have told ... Obama that there is no academic, sociological, political, economic, ethical or moral explanation for maintaining the blockade against Cuba," Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, said in a recent interview with Al Jazeera.

Obama has responded by saying that Washington has made the first gesture and now Cuba must take the next step by moving forward on human rights issues.

"We are willing to talk about anything he wants, human rights, freedom of the press, whatever, but always on equal terms and without the slightest shade of doubt about our sovereignty," Raul Castro, president of Cuba, responded.

But the summit organisers are concerned the Cuba issue could overshadow the stated goals of the summit and the opportunity to discuss co-ordinated actions aimed at overcoming the current economic crisis.

"Yes, we welcome the discussion on Cuba. Yes, there are statements to be made, but not in any aggressive form, so as to take away from what we are truly here for," Paula Gopee-Scoon, the Trinidadian foreign minister, said on Friday.