US-Cuba Relations: Images From 1960s, 1990s And Today Show Decades Of Change In Cuban-American Diplomacy [PHOTOS]

As the political borders between the U.S. and Cuba slowly peel open, so do the visual barriers. Historic talks between Washington and Havana have allowed more Americans a glimpse into a country kept just beyond arm's reach by hawkish diplomacy since relations between the two countries crumbled more than 50 years ago.

On Wednesday, American and Cuban leaders met in Havana for the first high-profile gathering in decades. The historic negotiations are aimed at ending the nations' mutual Cold War-era aggressions. U.S. President Barack Obama has indicated that the White House would pursue refiguring economic embargoes against Cuba, which were put in place two years after socialist revolutionary Fidel Castro led a successful uprising against the Cuban government in 1959. "Neither the American nor the Cuban people are well-served by a rigid policy that's rooted in events that took place before most of us were born," Obama said in a statement in December. "It's time for a new approach."

Obama’s “new approach” would include loosening travel restrictions on U.S. citizens going to the island nation. Washington and Havana have also begun swapping political prisoners.

At the same time, Cuban leaders have warned the U.S. not to intervene with the country’s communist principles. "In the same way that we have never demanded that the United States change its political system, we will demand respect for ours," Cuban President Raúl Castro, brother of Fidel Castro, told Cuba's National Assembly last month.

Relations between the U.S. and Cuba devolved in 1959 following Fidel Castro’s rise to power and subsequent nationalizing of private land and companies. What ensued were several clandestine attempts by the U.S. military to topple Fidel Castro’s government, culminating with the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. All ties between Washington and Havana were severed, embargoes were imposed, and life in Cuba got a lot harder as food security and wages declined.

The U.S. quickly became a leading destination for Cubans seeking political asylum. Between 1960 and 1980, hundreds of thousands of Cubans arrived in Florida by boat, a mass migration that led to what became known as the "wet foot, dry foot" policy in 1995. The Clinton-era policy essentially allowed any Cuban who stepped foot on U.S. shores to remain and pursue residency. Anyone intercepted at sea, however, would be returned to Cuba.

Here’s a look at Cuba over the decades from 1960 to the present.