When President Obama goes to Panama next week for the Summit of the Americas, he’ll run into another guest: Cuban President Raul Castro.
The face-to-face encounter will be a significant, if unplanned, step in the restoration of diplomacy been the two countries.
President John F. Kennedy first imposed an embargo on the Communist country in the 1960s, and the countries had little interaction until Obama.
In 2013, Obama did shake hands with Castro at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. The State Department said no one-on-one meeting between the men was scheduled, but that Obama knew Castro would be attending when he agreed to go.
But embassies haven’t yet been opened in the two countries, and the U.S. has criticized Venezuela, an ally of Cuba, for putting a wrinkle in the formative relationship.
U.S. politicians want to walk a fine line between moving away from silence and not condoning human rights abuses.
The U.S. also had a reminder this month that Cuba had spies apparently meddling in its politics even recently.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was indicted this month over bribery allegations. When accusations that he had hired prostitutes in the Dominican Republic emerged, Menendez said the allegations were false and planted by Cuban spies, citing the Central Intelligence Agency.
