Cuba and US open ground-breaking talks

(Havana) – The United States and Cuba opened two days of historic talks in Havana to end decades of Cold War-era animosity and re-establish diplomatic relations. The meetings in Havana follow the historic decision by US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro in December to seek normal diplomatic relations.
US deputy assistant secretary of state Alex Lee and Cuban foreign ministry official Josefina Vidal sat down for the first day of closed-door talks in the capital´s Convention Center, which will focus on migration issues. Their opening remarks were not broadcast.
The reopening of mutual embassies, closed since relations broke in 1961, will be at the center of Thursday´s talks, which will be led on the US side by Roberta Jacobson, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.
Jacobson will be the highest-ranking American official to visit the communist island since 1980. On the eve of the talks, US President Barack Obama urged the Congress to end the decades-long embargo against Cuba, which the Castro regime has blamed for the country´s economic woes.
(Courtesy WAM)