World
Cuban President Raul Castro has urged the US to end its trade embargo after the two countries opened formal talks on restoring diplomatic relations. The BBC reports:
He said the five-decade embargo "caused enormous human and economic damage". But only the U.S. Congress has the power to lift the embargo, and correspondents say many Republicans are still deeply opposed to this.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama and Mr Castro agreed a number of measures to improve ties.
They included the release by Cuba of U.S. contractor Alan Gross and three Cubans held in the U.S.
Relations between the US and Cuba have been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke off diplomatic relations and imposed a trade embargo after Cuba's revolution led to communism.
But in unprecedented moves on Wednesday, Mr Obama said the "rigid and outdated policy" of isolating Cuba had clearly failed. He said economic reforms were still needed in Cuba and human rights there needed to be upheld. But he said it was time for a new approach.
Some Cuban exiles responded with outrage. Others with ecstasy. News on Wednesday that the United States will restore diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time in more than a half century divided America's 1.5-million-strong Cuban exile community and threatened to shake up the political landscape in the vital battleground state of Florida. Reuters writes:
The reaction in Florida, which is home to about 80 percent of the nation's Cuban-American population, reflects a generational shift in an exile community whose powerful political influence in the United States and steadfast support for the Republican Party helped keep U.S. sanctions on Cuba in place for decades.
But with President Barack Obama's vow to push for "an honest and serious debate" about lifting the United States' long-standing economic embargo against Cuba, many Cuban exiles welcomed the turn, seeing a chance for more engagement with the homeland they left behind. "It's amazing," said Hugo Cancio, who came to Miami in the 1980 Mariel boatlift and runs a magazine with offices in Miami and Havana.
"This is a new beginning, a dream come true for the 11.2 million Cubans in Cuba, and I think it will provoke a change of mentality here too in this community."
"I'm ecstatic," he added. "I've been working for this moment for 25 years".
Such enthusiasm was not universal. In Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, occupants of passing cars screamed "Obama traitor" in Spanish. Other people on a sidewalk shouted "Obama communista."
"This is nothing to be happy about," said Maria-Angeles Martinez, 50, who joined a crowd voicing displeasure at Versailles, a popular Cuban restaurant. "I don't believe in talking about anything with the Castros. It's freedom or nothing."
Hardcore foes of former Cuban President Fidel Castro and his brother and current President Raul Castro have been a potent political force in Florida, one of the country's most hard- fought states in presidential elections.
