United States–Cuban Thaw

WASHINGTON, D.C. - United States President Barack Obama has announced that he is putting an end to the wet foot-dry foot policy, instituted more than 20 years ago by then-President Bill Clinton, in which any Cubans that reached US shores in any manner were allowed to stay and given residency.

Two firms signed a deal on Jan. 5 for the first commercial exports in half a century from Cuba to the United States, a new step in the countries' historic rapprochement.

Cuban company CubaExport signed an agreement to sell charcoal to U.S. firm Coabana Trading for $420 a ton, the communist island's state newspaper Granma said.

U.S. President Barack Obama pushed Cuba to improve human rights during his historic visit to the Communist-led island on March 21, publicly sparring with President Raul Castro who showed flashes of anger and hit back at U.S. "double standards," while also setting aside differences in pursuit of a "new day," as Obama called it.  

Visiting U.S. President Barack Obama said he believes "change is going to happen" in Cuba, in comments broadcast shortly ahead of rare talks March 21 in Havana with counterpart Raul Castro, while on a historic three-day trip.

US President Barack Obama arrived in Cuba on Sunday, becoming the first acting US president to visit the island since 1928.

Shortly after his arrival, Obama delivered a speech at the reopened US embassy in Havana, where he identified the visit as "historic".

US President Barack Obama arrived in Cuba on Sunday starting the three-day visit, the first by a US president in 88 years.

This historic visit is the culmination of a diplomatic opening announced by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014 , putting an end to an estrangement which was started when the Cuban revolution overthrew a pro-American government in 1959.

Cuba and the United States can normalize ties only after Washington ends its trade embargo and returns the Guantanamo U.S. naval base to Cuban control, President Raul Castro told the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 28.

State Secretary John Kerry reopened on Friday the US embassy in the Cuban capital Havana after it has remained closed for 54 years.

Kerry, who raised the US flag above the embassy, identified the latest step towards the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries as a "truly historic moment".

Top US diplomat John Kerry will meet with Cuban dissidents during his historic trip to Cuba, he said on August 12. 

The Cuban flag flew proudly over Havana's newly restored embassy July 20 as the US and Cuba relaunched diplomatic ties but swiftly cautioned that sharp differences lingered after five decades of enmity.