Informal US-Cuba Meetings May Move Forward
The conciliatory tone between the US and Cuba at the Summit of the Americas last weekend is offering hope for normalizing relations. According to the NYTimes:
The officials said informal meetings were being planned between the State Department and Cuban diplomats in the United States to determine whether the two governments could open formal talks on a variety of issues, including migration, drug trafficking and other regional security matters.
And the administration is also looking for ways to open channels for more cultural and academic exchanges between Cuba and the United States, the officials said.
The next steps, said a senior administration official, would be meant to “test the waters,” to see whether the United States and Cuba could develop a “serious, civil, open relationship.”
But not all is smooth sailing in the Florida Straits:
After saying the United States was “ready to talk about a series of issues,” the official added, “This thing with Cuba is going to take a lot of time, and it may not work.”