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Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:11:44 GMT
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President Barack Obama said the
media often ignores progress made at international summits in
favor of more “flashy” news, as the Summit of the Americas was
overshadowed by allegations of misconduct by his Secret Service
agents.

“Oftentimes in the press the attention for summits like
this ends up focusing on, where are the controversies?” the
president said during a meeting with executives of US and
South American companies on the sidelines of the summit in
Cartagena, Colombia. “Sometimes those controversies date back
to before I was born.”

The president didn’t mention the Secret Service agents who
were sent home from Cartagena after allegations of behavior that
the Associated Press reported included drinking and prostitutes.
Instead he referred to disputes dating back to the Cold War.

While the summit’s official focus is on trade and improving
infrastructure in South America, discussions were also expected
to include the debate in South America over the legalization of
drugs and increasing communist Cuba’s participation in regional
affairs.

The summit has been overshadowed by allegations, made
public yesterday, of behavior by US Secret Service agents
including at least one having involvement with prostitutes, the
Washington Post reported, citing Jon Adler, president of the
Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. A dozen agents
were involved, the Associated Press reported, citing an
unidentified US official.

Allegations of Misconduct

“There have been allegations of misconduct made against
Secret Service personnel in Cartagena, Colombia, prior to the
president’s trip,” Special Agent Edwin Donovan said in an e-
mailed statement yesterday. “The Secret Service takes all
allegations of misconduct seriously. This entire matter has been
turned over to our Office of Professional Responsibility, which
serves as the agency’s internal affairs component.”

The White House had no comment and referred all questions
to the Secret Service. Donovan didn’t disclose the nature of the
misconduct or the number of agents involved and has no further
updates today.

Obama said, alongside summit host Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, that South
American governments must work to increase the size of middle
class in their countries and increase transparency.

“The days when we could think of each of our economies in
isolation, those days are long gone,” the US president said.
“How can we make sure that globalization and that integration
is benefiting a broad base of people?”

Colombia Trade Agreement

Obama said the US-Colombia free trade agreement is an
example of a “win-win” agreement that “benefits both sides.”

The agreement which is still being negotiated between the
US and Colombia would add as much as $1.1 billion in exports
to the $14.3 billion in sales posted in 2011, the administration
said, creating thousands of jobs.

Total US exports in the Americas amount to about $700
billion a year out of $1.5 trillion worldwide, according to
Commerce Department figures.

Obama said more cooperation is needed among the Americas
on energy and education, such as exchanges on science and
engineering and computer sciences.

“We’ve got to up our game,” he said. “We’ve never felt
more excited about prospects of working as equal partners with
our brothers and sisters in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The more than 330 business executives that were scheduled
to attend included Rollin Ford, executive vice president and
chief administrative officer at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT); Luis
Montoya, president of Latin America Beverages for PepsiCo Inc.;
Rocky Becker, vice president of the Americas for Exxon Mobil
Corp. (XOM), and Luis Carlos Villegas, president of ANDI, Colombia’s
largest business association.

Colombia is South America’s second-largest economy. Brazil
is the second largest economy in the hemisphere and the sixth
largest in the world.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Kate Andersen Brower in Cartagena, Colombia at
1973 or kandersen7@bloomberg.net;
Roger Runningen in Cartagena, Colombia at
Or rrunningen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Steven Komarow at
skomarow1@bloomberg.net