
By Leonardo Padura Fuentes (*) - All Cubans, on either side of the Florida Straits, but also in places like Spain, France or Greenland – where there must be a couple of Cubans – as well felt it was a historic moment that included each and every one of us, when U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Dec. 17 the normalization of relations after half a century of hostility.

The United States and Cuba fell short of setting dates to reopen embassies but agreed to meet again to overcome deep rifts after they wrapped up historic talks aimed at normalizing relations.

US and Cuban officials launched historic talks to shed their Cold War-era hostility on Wednesday, complimenting each other on the first day's progress despite persistent differences over migration policy.

US President Barack Obama has declared an end to the financial crisis and pledged economic policies to benefit all Americans, in his annual State of the Union address to Congress. In a speech devised to appeal to working families, Mr Obama outlined his strategy for middle-class economics.

The United States government on Friday will begin making it easier for Americans to travel to Cuba than it has been for more than half a century, opening the door to a new era of contact between neighbors that have been estranged longer than most of their citizens have been alive.

Fidel Castro has sent a letter to his friend and Argentine football great Diego Maradona, a Venezuelan-based TV network said, adding that the missive quashed rumors that the former Cuban leader might have died.

Cuba has freed some of 53 people the United States regards as political prisoners as agreed under last month's US-Cuban rapprochement and Washington wants to see the rest released soon, the US State Department said on Tuesday.
![The embargo has almost certainly helped keep the Castro brothers [Fidel and Raul] in power for the last five decades.](/data/cache/noticias/48465/260x165/fidel-y-raul-castro.jpg)
By Robert F Kennedy Jr. (*) - In early December, President Barack Obama announced the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba after more than five decades of a misguided policy which my uncle, John F. Kennedy, and my father, Robert F. Kennedy, had been responsible for enforcing after the U.S. embargo against the country was first implemented in October 1960 by the Eisenhower administration.

Survivor says her husband went missing. The other occupants were shipped back to the island. Women and children freed, men still in custody.

Analysts agree that the Venezuelan president will need to put aside some of his anti-imperialist jargon and socialist practices to stay in play.