Word: fidels
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...Cuba sure know how to hold a grudge. When Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, relations between the two countries quickly devolved into bitter arguments, political grandstanding and the occasional international crisis. And while Cuba lies less than 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of Florida, the two nations have had no diplomatic relations since 1961 and use Switzerland as a mediator whenever they need to talk. But maybe - finally - things might change. On April 13 President Barack Obama announced that he would lift some longstanding restrictions, allowing Cuban Americans to visit and send remittances to their families...
Then came the Cuban Revolution and everything changed. It took multiple years and a few attempts but on Jan. 1, 1959 Fidel Castro and his band of guerillas successfully overthrew the government of President General Fulgencio Batista. The United States - which supported Castro by imposing a 1958 arms embargo against Batista's government - immediately recognized the new regime, although it expressed some misgivings over the revolutionaries' execution of over 500 pro-Batista supporters and Castro's increasingly obvious communist tendencies. Castro visited the U.S. just three months after coming to power, touring Washington monuments and meeting with Vice President Richard...
...roughly the same number of phone lines as it did in the 1950s. But the fate of the embargo rests in the sensitive hands of politicians, and no one is sure what Cuba's reaction will be. President Raúl Castro (who took over for his brother after Fidel underwent surgery in 2006) has indicated that he would like to open a dialogue with the U.S. Fidel himself, upon meeting the Congressional Black Caucus in early April, reportedly asked, "How can we help President Obama?" - although his later comments reverted to his typical uncooperative, firebrand type...
...remained neutral on the legislation. However, there's a strong argument to be made for a presidential endorsement that could push it over the top, one that satisfies the need to engage Cuba but also, at least indirectly, will prod the Castro government toward greater democracy. (See pictures of Fidel Castro's years in power...
...elimination of the general travel ban would signal a more robust interest in opening dialogue with Cuba. At the same time, it would just as decidedly put the ball in Havana's court. The Castros have insisted that they won't accept conditions for having the embargo lifted. Still, Fidel Castro wrote in an op-ed for Cuba's state-controlled media last week that Havana wants to negotiate "mutually advantageous" agreements with the U.S.; he even asked Lee's delegation what he and his brother could do to help Obama's efforts to improve U.S.-Cuba relations...