Havana talks start after promises by Obama, Cuban caution

[riversedge]

Source: Chippewa.com






Havana talks start after promises by Obama, Cuban caution


Desmond Boylan




Ministry of Foreign Relations General Director for the United States, Josefina Vidal, and Cuban delegation members, sit across from U.S. delegates as they begin negotiations, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. The highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades kicked off two days of negotiations Wednesday after grand promises by President Barack Obama about change on the island and a somber warning from Cuba to abandon hopes of reforming the communist government. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)


1 hour ago • By BRADLEY KLAPPER and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN


HAVANA (AP) — The highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades kicked off two days of negotiations Wednesday after grand promises by President Barack Obama about change on the island and a somber warning from Cuba to abandon hopes of reforming the communist government.

U.S. moves to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba and loosen the five-decade trade embargo have "the potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere" and have "added up to new hope for the future in Cuba," Obama said in his State of the Union address Tuesday night in Washington.

A senior Cuban official cautioned, however, that restoring diplomatic ties with the U.S. would not immediately lead to a full relationship between the Cold War foes after a half-century of enmity.

The message appeared designed to lower expectations, coming just before Obama spoke to a U.S. Capitol audience that included American Alan Gross, whose release from Cuba in a prisoner exchange last month cleared the way for a new relationship..............


Read more: http://chippewa.com/business/havana-talks-start-after-promises-by-obama-cuban-caution/article_70eeb709-1afb-50bc-a0f3-d001730ee272.html

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[libdem4life]

1. It's way past time. Wasn't there a Russian ship docked there maybe as reminder...

no Regime Change. But a brave step on Obama's part.

Now, he can finally do some of the "liberal" things he couldn't do in the first 6 years. Maybe set some stages to take the party a bit further left and encourage closet liberals to begin to come out. A 50% approval rating is awesome....and empowering.

[flamingdem]

2. This meeting is historic and fantastic but

Alan Gross is no hero. Let's not confuse issues, he was a handsomely paid USAID paid contractor who had no business being in Cuba breaking their laws.

[quadrature]

3. more secret talks ...just what we need

reminds me of PPACA.
we have to pass the law to find out
what is in the law

because nobody read the law