A night on the town in Cartagena during the Summit of the Americas has thrust U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton into the limelight, to largely positive reviews from U.S. press.
Photos of Clinton dancing, swilling beer and letting loose in the Cuban bar Cafe Havana, following diplomatic meetings Saturday, first surfaced in media reports Sunday.
Reuters reported that Clinton danced the night away with female aides, accompanied by security, and quoted an anonymous source as saying she appeared to be “having a great time.”
The images clash with Clinton’s typically business-like persona — and drew humour from TIME Magazine, which reported that social media users “seem to be digging this cerveza-sipping Secretary of State.”
The New York Post admired Clinton’s relaxed dress and forays onto the dance floor, while The Atlantic asked, “Who wouldn’t want to have a beer with Hillary?”
The most severe criticism came from the United Kingdom paper The Daily Telegraph, with Nile Gardiner writing, “Hillary was partying in Colombia while the Taliban were about to launch a wave of terror attacks in Kabul.”
But not all UK press was similarly unimpressed, as a blog post from London-based magazine The Economist proclaimed: “Let her dance.”