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Obama's re-election prospects are largely tied to the nation's unemployment rate, which has dipped to 8.2 percent. Yet, the job market remains fragile and millions of Americans are still out of work
Obama said economic growth in Central and South America has created a booming middle class with money to spend.
"We want them spending money on American-made goods so that American businesses can put more Americans back to work,"
Obama's goal: Get in, get out and don't do anything that can create a political distraction back home.
But if some Latin American leaders get their way, Obama will be forced to engage on issues that are less politically palatable in the U.S.; namely, Washington's strained relationship with Cuba and the prospect of legalizing drugs.
Cuba has never been invited to the Summit of the Americas, which defines itself as the gathering of the 34 "democratically elected" leaders.
But many Latin American leaders are no longer willing to accept Cuba's absence.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, is boycotting the summit in protest.
"There has been talk of lack of consensus, but we all know that this is the veto of foreign powers," Mr Correa said, in a not-so-veiled reference to Washington.
To avoid further cancellations, Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos promised the issue would be discussed in Cartagena.
"I hope this will be the last summit without Cuba," he said.
The fact is that the issue of Cuba and the more than half-century-old US trade embargo has become more and more divisive as time goes by.
The colonial Colombian city of Cartagena has become, once again, a fortress as it prepares to host the Summit of the Americas.
Submarines and warships are protecting the bay, aeroplanes and helicopters are patrolling the Caribbean sky.
Only those involved with the summit are being allowed inside the walled old town, where leaders of 33 countries in the western hemisphere, excluding Cuba and Ecuador, are meeting this weekend.
For Colombia, the summit offers a great opportunity to show its best face and all the progress it has made since the violence-ravaged 1990s.
But, more importantly, the host country also aims to reassert itself as an increasingly influential regional player, ideally placed to bring Latin America and the United States closer together after years of drifting apart.
Indeed, Washington's influence in regional affairs is a shadow of what it once was.
"We have seen that the strategy that has been pursued in the fight against drug trafficking over the last 40 years has failed," Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina recently said.
And many Latin American countries feel they are paying a disproportionate price for it, in blood.
Obama said economic growth in Central and South America has created a booming middle class with money to spend.
"We want them spending money on American-made goods so that American businesses can put more Americans back to work,"
AT least 12 US Secret Service agents tasked with protecting President Barack Obama during his trip to Colombia for the Summit of the Americas have been sent home amid allegations of misconduct.
A senior law enforcement official told FOX News Channel that at least a dozen agents were recalled from Colombia because of allegations involving prostitution.
The official said the situation was so serious that diplomats were brought in to mediate and the agency was forced to rush in a new group of agents to cover those sent home.
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association president Jon Adler told The Washington Post the accusations include at least one agent being involved with a prostitute in Cartagena, where the President arrived today.
The Post said it was alerted to the misconduct by journalist Ronald Kessler, who has written a book on the Secret Service. Mr Kessler said soliciting prostitutes is legal in Colombia, but was considered inappropriate by the Secret Service.
News of the alleged misconduct emerged as two small bombs exploded in Cartagena this morning. No injuries were reported from the explosions, which occurred around 8pm Friday local time, newspaper El Tiempo reported.
Five US army staff on President Obama's trip to Colombia may have been involved in "inappropriate conduct" along with several Secret Service agents sent home on Friday, officials said.
US Southern Command said the five had been staying at the same hotel as the agents. The allegations are said to involve prostitutes.
The Secret Service agents have now been suspended.
Gen Douglas Fraser, commander of the Southern Command, said he was "disappointed by the entire incident and [said] that this behavior is not in keeping with the professional standards expected of members of the United States military".