President Obama said the United States “will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century,” the New York Times reports.
“In a deal negotiated during 18 months of secret talks hosted largely by Canada and encouraged by Pope Francis, who hosted a final meeting at the Vatican, Mr. Obama and President Raúl Castro of Cuba agreed in a telephone call to put aside decades of hostility to find a new relationship between the United States and the island nation just 90 miles off the American coast.”
Said Obama: “We will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries.” He added that the deal will “begin a new chapter among the nations of the Americas” and move beyond a “rigid policy that’s rooted in events that took place before most of us were born.”
Washington Post: “The Vatican hosted talks between the two nations that started last year with a meeting in Canada. The Vatican also sent representatives to the talks, a step the Canadians did not.”
Wonk Wire: So can you buy a Cuban cigar now?
