Raul Castro Reaches Out to Obama, but Don’t Call It a Thaw

By Eli Lake December 11th 2013 5:45 AM

Tuesday’s handshake between Obama and Castro comes after six months of quiet diplomacy between the United States and Cuba—and Castro signaling he’s ready for bigger talks.

Since the Cuban revolution, the island’s ties with the United States have been marred by espionage, near war, sabotage, and deep distrust. But since President Obama came to office in 2009, Cuban leader Raul Castro has signaled that he is interested in a new relationship, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Earlier this year, Castro agreed to host peace talks between Colombia and the FARC, a Marxist rebel group that until recently Cuba and its most important ally, Venezuela, had supported. Last week, Obama praised the Cuban-brokered talks during a state visit with Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, U.S. and Cuban officials have held midlevel discussions in Havana and Washington on a range of issues, including direct postal service, migration issues, disaster response, and search and rescue at sea.

“The Cubans regularly say to people that they are ready for a different relationship,” said Dan Restrepo, who served as head of Latin America policy at the National Security Council during Obama’s first term.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/11/raul-castro-reaches-out-to-obama-but-don-t-call-it-a-thaw.html