Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday joined the voices praising the outcome of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, labelling the Port of Spain event ’a total success.’

’It all ended as it should have. A new atmosphere has been created throughout the continent. The encounter was an entire success that led to a set of tacit commitments and others expressly defined ... Of all the summits that I have attended in this decade, without doubt this was the most successful, one that opened the doors to a new era of reasoning among all countries,’ President Chavez said as the summit came to an end.

’The Summit of the Americas, without being perfect, was close to perfection,’ he added.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, the Venezuelan leader said he had no great expectations for the event and indicated that he would push for a debate to end the 47-year-old exclusion of communist Cuba from the Inter-American system.

One of the highlights of the three-day summit was the historic handshake on Friday by US President Barack Obama and Chavez, who told his US colleague, ’I want to be your friend.’ By yesterday, the Venezuelan leader said he was ready to reopen diplomatic relations with the United States and announced that career diplomat Roy Chaderton would be designated his new ambassador in Washington. Chaderton, a former foreign minister, is currently Venezuela’s ambassador to the Organisation of American States (OAS).

US-Venezuelan diplomatic relations have been virtually frozen since September last year, when Chavez expelled the US ambassador to Venezuela and immediately recalled his ambassador from Washington.

’For our part, we expect that soon the United States ... will designate an ambassador in Caracas. I am sure that soon the corresponding steps for that will be completed,’ said the socialist Venezuelan leader.

Chavez, an outspoken critic of the United States, added, ’President Obama and I have obvious differences of focus, but we coincide in that we are willing and have all the firm will to work together.’

Commenting on the so-called Declaration of Port of Spain approved at the end of the summit, Chavez said it was not a product of unanimity at the event. He explained that Venezuela did not sign the declaration, but that did not constitute a point of honour.

’In view of a series of motives and arguments that we expounded, Venezuela and a series of countries are not going to sign that document. Nevertheless, through some observations, we prepared the way for a good atmosphere that was created here,’ he said.

Venezuela and several other countries argued that the declaration was ’unacceptable’ for failing to address the world financial crisis and ’unfairly’ excluding Cuba from the Summit of the Americas.