Full Coverage: U.S.-Cuba Relations

As Cuba and the United States prepare for their next landmark meeting in Washington, the future of their relations, at least in the short term and at the critical nuts-and-bolts level, rests in the hands of two veteran female diplomats.

Congress on Thursday began considering the first of what is expected to be a flurry of bills aimed at gradually doing away with the 54-year-old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

Acrimonious neighbors for 50 years, Cuba and the United States this week are expected to take the first concrete steps toward opening diplomatic relations and an entirely new relationship in trade, traffic and tourism.

The Obama administration moved aggressively Thursday to secure its historic opening to Cuba, issuing new rules that will make it far easier for Americans to visit the island nation and do business there after more than 50 years of enforced isolation.

Down Prado boulevard, lined with wide-topped trees and pastel-colored 19th century buildings, men and a few women were hawking homes, cars, just about anything you could want.

The weekly ritual was underway.

President Obama came to office in 2009 with a grand plan to reshape U.S. foreign relations through outreach to hostile governments.

Many Cubans expressed joy Friday at the prospect of opened relations between their nation and the United States, and, especially, at the possibility of unrestricted trade and travel for the first time in half a century.

The surprise deal between the United States and Cuba to reopen embassies and restore diplomatic relations after 53 years in the deep freeze involved no clandestine meetings in either country or participation of an aging Fidel Castro.

It has been a generation since Pope John Paul II helped kickstart the collapse of the Soviet Union through his support for anti-communists in his native Poland.

Cubans fearful of hostile U.S. neighbors have long counted on the Kremlin to ride to their rescue with military backing and economic infusions, even in the lean years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It was a handshake a year ago at Nelson Mandela’s funeral, and this week it was a long phone call.

A tale of two restaurants unfolded in South Florida on Wednesday.

Sweeping away more than half a century of official U.S. animosity, President Obama announced plans Wednesday to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba and broaden business ties after the swap of several jailed spies and the release of an American contractor held in a Havana prison.

Tour operators said they expect to see an uptick in the number of Americans who want to visit Cuba after President Obama announced Wednesday that the United States would reestablish diplomatic ties with the island nation.

News that the U.S. and Cuba want to normalize diplomatic relations could also open the door for federal officials to finally capture the first woman ever to be included on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Good afternoon.

The family of a U.S. foreign aid specialist who has been imprisoned in Cuba for five years said Wednesday that he is “done” and that President Obama must act to secure his release.

Nothing about U.S. relations with Cuba is simple. But a recent Atlantic Council poll examined none of the nuances.