Obama victory a relief for Latin American left

Source: Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- From Caracas to Havana to La Paz, President Barack Obama's reelection victory was welcomed with a sigh of relief by many on Latin America's left, though others cautioned that the U.S. leader had not made the region a priority during his crisis-buffeted first term and was unlikely to do so in a second.

In Cuba, state-run news website CubaSi called the outcome a victory for the lesser of two evils, saying: "U.S. elections: the worst one did not win."

"The news of Barack Obama's triumph in yesterday's general elections in the United States was received with some relief and without great optimism," CubaSi wrote.

On the streets of Caracas, some said they worried that a Romney win would have brought a much harder line against leftist leaders such as their own President Hugo Chavez, and that they hoped another four-year term for Obama would bring relatively peaceful U.S.-Latin American ties.

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