More from the summit

• From an Administration official’s background briefing in Trinidad (h/t Capitol Hill Cubans blog):

“Look, I think what we are is at a beginning, an initiation of a new process. The President has been clear that our goals are to see a democratic Cuba. He’s also been clear that there are many issues that we have that we could discuss with Cuba – human rights being one of them – but there are other issues that relate to just the nature of a relationship between two countries in the same hemisphere. Migration, for instance, is a big issue that I don’t believe we’ve had recent talks with Cuba about.”

• Secretary Clinton’s comment on Cuba last Friday in a press conference in the Dominican Republic:

“…earlier this week President Obama announced the most significant policy changes toward Cuba by the United States Government in decades. And we are continuing to look for productive ways forward because we view the present policy as having failed. You are all familiar with the Administration’s general view that engagement is a useful tool to advance our national interests and our goals of promoting human rights, democracy, peace, prosperity, and progress. So we have seen Raul Castro’s comments. We welcome this overture. We are taking a very serious look, and we will consider how we intend to respond.”

• Fidel Castro, referring in a new commentary to President Obama’s comments on Cuban doctors and their overseas missions:

“Obama spoke of the military power of the United States that can help in the fight against organized crime, and the importance of the U.S. market. He also recognized that the programs that the Cuban government carries out, such as sending medical contingents to Latin American and Caribbean countries, can be more effective than Washington’s military power when it comes to winning influence in the region.

“We Cubans don’t do it to win influence; it is a tradition that began in Algeria in 1963 when Algeria was fighting against French colonialism, and we have done it in dozens of countries of the Third World.”

• President Uribe of Colombia says, “The Colombian government considers it necessary to begin the process of completely reintegrating Cuba.” And Brazil’s foreign minister says it would be “very difficult” for there to be another Summit of the Americas without Cuba.