US, Cuba Resuming Talks And Chipping Away At The Decades Of Hostility

More than half a century since the U.S. tried to overthrow Cuba’s government in the infamously botched Bay of Pigs invasion, the two countries are holding talks on mail service and migration issues, the Associated Press reports.

Tensions between the two countries have eased of late.

This past week, officials discussed resuming direct mail service and announced a July 17 meeting to discuss migration issues.

In May, a U.S. federal judge remanded a convicted Cuban intelligence agent to Cuba. Weeks later, Cuba informed the family of jailed U.S. government contractor Alan Gross that it would allow a U.S. doctor to examine him.

John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, has long been a critic of Washington’s policy toward Cuba and President Barack Obama, freed of his re-election worries, can now act on Cuba more decisively.

President Raul Castro has injected a small dose of capitalism into the country’s antiquated communist economy.