PANAMA CITY – Hours after shaking hands, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro headed toward historic talks in Panama on Saturday, sealing efforts to bury decades of animosity.
KINGSTON, Jamaica — U.S. President Barack Obama indicated Thursday that he will announce Cuba's removal from the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism this week, a move that should quickly lead to a full restoration of diplomatic ties and the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington.
SolÃs said he would make a case to Obama for including Costa Rica in the proposed $1 billion aid package designed for the Northern Triangle countries: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala.
Issues crucial to Central America – ranging from immigration and climate change to violent crime and the region’s growing need for electricity – will also be on the agenda for the VII Summit of the Americas, to be held Apr. 10-11 in Panama City.
In separate remarks, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf expressed skepticism that the thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations may lead to the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington before next week's summit.
Speaking on the 33rd anniversary of Argentina's invasion of the disputed South Atlantic islands, which it calls the Malvinas, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said the defense ministry had 30 days to make all files on the conflict public.
The top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, Roberta Jacobson, met her Cuban counterpart Josefina Vidal behind closed doors for a third round of talks on normalizing relations, but the atmosphere of reconciliation was marred by protests over Washington's treatment of Venezuela.
Russia is courting Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua "to gain access to air bases and ports for resupply of Russian naval assets and strategic bombers operating in the Western Hemisphere."
