The new policy applies to children from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who face harm from violence and other dangers. Admission is also possible for spouses and grandchildren of immigrants in some cases.
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.
Granma published four photographs on its website of the 88-year-old Castro seated inside a bus or van and shaking the hands of supporters leaning in through the vehicle's windows.
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.
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."
Roberta Jacobson, the United States' top diplomat for Latin America, will return on March 15 to the Cuban capital for a third round of negotiations, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
The plan was formulated in the wake of last year’s unprecedented exodus to the U.S. of families and children traveling alone from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Many were fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries.
Tuesday’s comments were the latest from the government on perceived slights by the media. This past Sunday, La Nación printed an op-ed from Solís in which the president complained about daily harassment from the press.
