By Jeff Mason and David Alexander
PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday he saw "potential positive signs" of better relations with Cuba and Venezuela, but he called on Cuba to back them up by giving its people more political freedom.
Obama spoke after attending a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago which he said focussed on "launching a new era of partnerships" between the countries of the western hemisphere.
Communist-ruled Cuba was excluded from the meeting but the summit was dominated by speculation over the prospect of an end to the long conflict between Washington and Havana after Cuban President Raul Castro said last week he was open to talks.
Obama also received friendly overtures during the summit from left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose close alliance with Cuba and fierce criticism of U.S. policies in the region had strained relations with Washington in the past.
"For the past few days, we've seen potential positive signs in the nature of the relationship between the United States, Cuba and Venezuela," Obama told a news conference.
"We're going to explore and see if we can make progress," Obama added, recalling Raul Castro had said he was willing to talk about political prisoners and human rights.
Obama went on: "But as I've said before, the test for all of us is not simply words but deeds".
Recalling his move last week to ease aspects of the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, Obama reiterated a call for Cuba to reciprocate by freeing political prisoners and addressing freedom of expression and religion. These issues should not be "brushed aside", he said.
"The Cuban people are not free and that's our lodestone, our North Star ... There are ways that Cuba can send signs that they are serious about real change," he added.
In the past, Havana has rejected placing such conditions on an improvement in ties as meddling in its sovereignty.
Obama's contacts during the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain have mended broken diplomatic fences in a region where America-bashing has long been accepted and where former President George W. Bush was unpopular.
Although Obama had to field a chorus of calls to lift the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, his cooperative diplomatic style went down well with his Latin American and Caribbean peers.
"NEW ERA"
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the summit had created a chance for a new era in relations between the United States and Latin America.
Venezuela's Chavez, who told Obama "I want to be your friend", also indicated his willingness to cooperate with the new U.S. administration in improving ties. "We have the political will to work together," Chavez told reporters.'
OPEC member Venezuela is a major supplier of oil to the United States.
A draft summit declaration, which stated a commitment to work together to tackle the hemisphere's economic, energy and security challenges, was issued at the end of the meeting.
But there was no formal joint signing ceremony as a group of mostly leftist presidents led by Chavez had previously rejected the document as deficient.
The group, including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras, said it failed to address Cuba's exclusion from the summit and did not provide solutions to the global economic crisis that threatens to send millions in the region back to poverty.
The summit's host, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad, said the declaration was adopted by consensus even though some who refused to endorse it. Despite that, Latin American and Caribbean leaders hailed the summit as a success.
In contrast to a previous summit in Argentina in 2005, which ended in discord, the Port of Spain meeting was humming with good feelings projected by the young U.S. president, who promised a cooperative partnership of equals with his peers.
"The presence of President Obama has certainly made a powerful contribution to the positive climate and success of the summit," Organisation of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters.
(Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher, Patrick Markey, Guido Nejamkis, Ana Isabel Martinez and Linda Hutchinson-Jafar; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Kieran Murray)
