U.S. and Cuba Nearing Deal to Fully Restore Diplomatic Ties
Source: NYT
The United States and Cuba are closer than ever to reaching an agreement to fully restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies, officials in both countries say, as negotiators prepare to meet Thursday in Washington for another round of talks to iron out remaining details and discuss possible dates.
The move toward full diplomatic relations broken decades ago during the Cold War has been seen as a key step toward ending hostilities and normalizing ties with a historic opponent that once agreed to allow Soviet nuclear missiles on its soil and repelled an invasion by American-backed insurgents.
Yet progress toward full diplomatic relations has not gone as swiftly as initially hoped in December, when President Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba first committed to restoring ties in a surprise announcement
Now, with a number of obstacles out of the way or close to it, particularly for the Cubans, the talks have reached the most optimistic point after four rounds of conversations in Havana and Washington.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/world/americas/us-and-cuba-nearing-deal-to-fully-restore-diplomatic-ties.html?_r=0
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Obama, Cuban President Raul Castro Shake Hands at Nelson Mandela Memorial
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-cuban-president-raul-castro-shake-hands-nelson/story?id=21158776
Mahalo azurnoir~
The old town of Havana, while run down, is a gem out of history. Even better when taken around by a local who knows where Hemingway used to drink, etc.
While I never got to travel into the countryside (I was a guest of their government, and was watched and escorted at every step), I got glimpses of it, and it looked exquisite from a distance. Some friends of mine were there last month, and while they had a hard time finding their way around, they had a great time except when trying to find their way around in the countryside. Apparently nothing is labeled, and they speak no Spanish.
When I was there, they put me in some hotel for visiting party hacks from Warsaw Pact countries. You could only buy at the hard currency shop if you had a foreign passport. There were some Aeroflot people there trying to buy some electronic stuff you couldn't get in the Soviet Union in those days. They were in front of me in line. All I wanted was to buy a few post cards and stamps, and these Russians were acting like they owned the place (not wrong at the time). They were taking forever arguing, and the poor woman at the cashier spoke no Russian. They spoke no Spanish. Since I speak both, I offered to translate for them, and the Russians were taken care of in a flash. Then it was my turn. When I was getting ready to pay for my post cards and stamps, I had to show my passport. When the cashier saw my American passport, after my just having interpreted back and forth between Spanish and Russian, you could see the letters "C-I-A" forming on her face. When I told her I was there on the request of her government and not mine, she didn't look too convinced! 
