US's Olive Branch

At the Summit of American nations held at Trinidad recently, the U.S. President Barack Obama shook hands with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, an ardent critic of the United States.  Mr. Obama has also promised to soothe the decades-old of hostile relations with Cuba and promised to ‘listen and learn’ from the leaders of Latin American countries to start a new chapter in the U.S’s approach in its own backyard.  Perhaps, it was the writing on the wall owing to the global economic crisis, which has forced the leader of the sole superpower to offer olive branch to his neighbours.