President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro moved toward a
groundbreaking meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas
Friday in what would be a remarkable display of reconciliation between
two nations with the leadership of the Western Hemisphere gathered
around them.The powerful symbolism of a face-to-face exchange Saturday between the
leaders could signal progress even though both sides are still working
through nettlesome issues that would lead to the opening of embassies in
Washington and Havana, the first stage in a new diplomatic
relationship.
The U.S.-Cuban outreach entered a
new, accelerated stage in recent days, with Obama speaking with Castro
by phone Wednesday and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holding a
lengthy meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez late
Thursday.
The Cuban foreign ministry
issued a brief account of the Kerry-Rodriguez meeting, saying they met
for nearly three hours in a "respectful and constructive atmosphere."
It
was the highest-level, face-to-face contact between officials from the
two countries since the Dec. 17 announcement that Washington and Havana
would move to restore diplomatic relations that were severed in 1961
Even as Washington talked up the
historic shift toward Cuba, leftist leaders in Latin America took shots
at the U.S. in solidarity with Venezuela.
Barely
off the plane, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela laid a wreath at a
monument to victims of the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989. To shouts
of "Maduro, stick it to the Yankee," he vowed to personally ask Obama to
apologize to Panama and compensate victims of what he called a
"massacre" that left more than 500 people dead during the invasion.
"Never again a U.S. invasion in Latin America," Maduro said.
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