Report: U.S. And Cuba To Start Talks To Normalize Diplomatic Relations

In this image from TV, US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, in the rain for a memorial service for former South African President Nelson ... In this image from TV, US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, South Africa, in the rain for a memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela, Tuesday Dec. 10, 2013. The handshake between the leaders of the two Cold War enemies came during a ceremony that's focused on Mandela's legacy of reconciliation. Hundreds of foreign dignitaries and world heads of states gather Tuesday with thousands of South African people to celebrate the life, and mark the death, of Nelson Mandela who has became a global symbol of reconciliation. (AP Photo/SABC Pool) MORE LESS
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WASHINGTON (AP) — American officials say the U.S. and Cuba will start talks to normalize full diplomatic relations as part of the most significant shift in U.S. policy toward the communist island in decades.

Officials say the U.S. is also looking to open an embassy in Havana in the coming months. The moves are part of an agreement between the U.S. and Cuba that also includes the release of American Alan Gross and three Cubans jailed in Florida for spying.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said the agreement includes normalizing banking and trade ties with Cuba.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  1. Wonderful news. Fantastic. Why we’ve let a small band of right-wing dead-enders control our relationship with Cuba over the years mystifies me. Our policy was bad for us, and worse for the Cubans.

    Though I hope this doesn’t mean that Cuba will soon be overrun by, say, McDonald’s.

  2. Avatar for sooner sooner says:

    It’s time to do this. I just hope that Cuba is able to keep US corporations like McDonald’s and Starbucks the F&*k out of their country. I’ve visited there once a few years back and have not desire to see it turned into a little piece of Americana.

    It’s a wonderful enough place as it is and will better if living standards can be raised without trashing the place.

  3. What I worry about is the second- and third-generation descendants of Cuban refugees from 50+ years ago who’ve lived their entire lives in the United States, never set foot on Cuban soil, now demanding to have “their” property in Cuba returned to them. The Cuban people who actually, you knoww, live in Cuba were fncked over by Bautista, fncked over by the Castros, and now they’ll get fncked over by the Little Havana crowd.

  4. My thoughts exactly. In ways I cannot state here completely because it would be the world’s longest post.

    One of my main issues deals with who actually came to the U.S. from Cuba when Castro initially took over in 1959. In the 1960s the Cubans who immigrated predominated among the upper (and near-white) classes of individuals, leading to a vastly distorted notion of the makeup of the Cuban population, which has far more African ancestry in their overall population than, say, Puerto Rico. The “Mariel Boat Lift” of the early 1980s featured more diversity but this was overshadowed by the presence in this group of individuals with severe criminal and mental health issues.

    The normalization will open American eyes to a more balanced view of the Cuban population. In addition, the Cubans themselves will be more likely to have outlooks which conform more with those of other Latinos, as opposed to persons like Cruz, Castellanos and Rubio.

  5. Change We Can Believe In.

    I echo all the positive sentiments in this thread.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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