Warmest Words In A Half-Century

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba-United_States_relations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2886.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7997439.stm

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5glBD-LLqswmnj4XJ9NLzqNYVKLuwD97JVTN81

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Trading their warmest words in a half-century, the United States and Cuba pressed ahead Friday with a dizzying series of gestures as leaders of the Americas gathered for a summit. The momentum was so great that the head of the Organization of American States said he'll ask his group to invite Cuba back after 47 years.

In a diplomatic exchange of the kind that normally takes months or years, President Barack Obama this week dropped restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, then challenged his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro to reciprocate.

Within hours, Castro responded with Cuba's most open offer for talks since the Eisenhower administration, saying he's ready to discuss "human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners everything." Cuban officials have historically bristled at discussing human rights or political prisoners, of whom they hold about 200.

The United States fired back Friday, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offering: "We welcome his comments, the overture they represent and we are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond."

And OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said he would ask the 34 member nations to invite Cuba back into the fold. Analysts doubted Insulza known for his political caution would have done so without a nod from Washington.

"We're going step by step," Insulza said. He called on the group to annul the 1962 resolution that suspended Cuba because its "Marxist-Leninist" system was incompatible with OAS principles. If two-thirds of foreign ministers agree at a meeting in Honduras next month, the communist government will be reinstated.

But while White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said U.S. officials were struck by Castro's new openness to admit change might be needed, he also said Cuba needed to start making concrete moves toward freedom.

President Barack Obama waves as he arrives for the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

President Barack Obama arrives for the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Friday, April 17, 2009.

US President Barack Obama arrives at Piarco International Airport in Port of Spain, Trinidad April 17, 2009 to attend the 5th Summit of the Americas.


President Barack Obama waves as he arrives for the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales, Cuba's President Raul Castro, center, and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, right, waved during the official photo of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA, Summit in Cumana, Venezuela.

A Marine One helicopter, with President Barack Obama on board, prepared to land at the Campo de Marte military field in Mexico City Thursday April 16, 2009. President Obama was in Mexico for a brief official visit on his way to attend the Summit of the Americas in the Caribbean.

President Barack Obama arrived at the Los Pinos presidential residence surrounded by Mexican honor guards in Mexico City.

President Barack Obama, left, smiles during a joint news conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon at Los Pinos presidential residency in Mexico.

A man waved a flag of US President Barack Obama in Port of Spain, on April 16, 2009 a day before the opening of the 5th Summit of the Americas. Trinidad and Tobago is to become the first Caribbean state to host a summit of the Americas, where a total of 34 countries from across the American continent will converge - all, in fact, except Cuba - excluded due to US pressure, on April 17-19.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, left, shook hands with Dominican republic's President Leonel Fernandez at the end of a press conference at the national palace in Santo Domingo, Friday, April 17, 2009. Clinton was on a 24 hours official visit to Dominican republic.

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Fidel Castro

Eighty-two-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as president and commander in chief of Cuba on 19 February 2008. It's one year by now after his resignation. To refresh, here we take a look at the charismatic Castro's political life in pics…

Picture taken in the early 60's of the Cuban Revolution leaders, Fidel Castro (R), prime minister of the Cuban Revolutionary government and Che Guevara, minister of industry, during a popular meeting in Havana.

Fidel Castro addresses delegates of the General Assembly of the United Nations in a four-hour long speech, 26 September 1960.

President Fidel Castro and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, during his visit to the island in November 1974.

ANC president Nelson Mandela and Cuban leader Fidel Castro in July 1991.

Fidel Castro points at Leonardo da Vinci's most famous painting during his visit of the Louvre museum with former socialist culture minister Jack Lang, 14 March 1995.

Fidel Castro yawns during US President Bill Clinton's address to the United Nations, during the first day of the three-day celebration of the UN's 50th Anniversary, 22 October 1995.

Pope John Paul II and Cuban President Fidel Castro pose for photographers during their historic meeting at the Vatican, 19 November 1996.

Fidel Castro jokes around with South African President Nelson Mandela at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the GATT Agreement, 19 May 1998.

The wax figure of Cuban President Fidel Castro gets final touches by hair and colour artist Sylvie Vincent at Madame Tussaud's in London, 13 August 1999.

Former US president Jimmy Carter (R) throws the first pitch in a baseball game beside Fidel Castro in Havana. Carter made a bold push for democratic opening in communist Cuba, urging Castro to let the UN human rights chief visit and calling attention to an unprecedented dissident bid for political change, 14 May 2002.

The image of Fidel Castro appears in the viewfinder of a camera in Ciego de Avila during a speech to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the raid on the Moncada Garrison, 26 July 2002.

Fidel Castro chats with his South Africa's counterpart Thabo Mbeki during the inauguration of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil, 1 January 2003.

Fidel Castro addresses the nation on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the revolution, 3 January 2004.

Fidel Castro is helped by his bodyguards after he fell at the end of a speech at a ceremony in Santa Clara, 20 October 2004. Castro fractured his left knee and also had a light fracture in his right arm, but laughed off the accident, assuring Cubans that he remained in good spirits and in one piece.

Fidel Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez chat during the opening ceremony of the XV Book Fair in Havana, 3 February 2006. Cuba and Venezuela said they would oppose moves to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over an atomic programme the West fears could be hiding weapons development.

Pictures of Fidel Castro ranging from his early childhood to present day. Castro, Latin America's sole surviving communist strongman, ceded power on 1 August 2006, to his brother Raul on a temporary basis for the first time in 47 years after undergoing what he called delicate intestinal surgery.

Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro hasn't been seen in public in months.

One of the first pictures of Cuban leader Fidel Castro taken after his gasterointestinal surgery. The Cuban leader, who turned 80 in August 2006, appeared alert and in good spirits and displayed no discernible weight loss.

"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept — I repeat — I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief". Castro (82) announced his resignation almost 19 months after a severe illness caused him to hand power temporarily over to his brother Raul Castro.