U.S.-Cuba relations continuing to thaw

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By Stephen Dinan

Using the most conciliatory language between their nations in decades, President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro continued what has been a weeklong thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations, with Mr. Obama saying Friday that he has seen positive signals from the island nation, a day after Mr. Castro said he would be open to bilateral talks on expanding political rights.

Attending the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, Mr. Obama also exchanged a greeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has sparred frequently with the United States, and he called for a new hemispheric bargain in which other countries stop blaming the United States "for every problem that arises."

Mr. Obama said he is prepared to alter U.S. policy on Cuba, an issue that has become a source of bitter division between the United States and its would-be Latin American allies.

"The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba," said Mr. Obama, adding that he welcomes Mr. Castro's openness to talks and sees in the short term "critical steps we can take toward a new day."

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The relatively warm exchange with Cuba started Monday with Mr. Obama's move to lift the strictest parts of the U.S. travel and trade embargo, and it continued through Mr. Castro's olive-branch remarks Thursday and the Obama administration's various replies Friday.

"We have sent word to the U.S. government in private and in public that we are willing to discuss everything human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything," Mr. Castro said Thursday in Venezuela, where he was meeting with other leftist leaders from the Western Hemisphere ahead of the weekend summit.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, traveling in the Dominican Republic, said the U.S. welcomed Mr. Castro's comments and "the overture that they represent, and we're taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond."

While signaling a warming of relations, the back and forth does not guarantee anything. The White House said this week it wants concrete actions by the Cuban government as a show of good faith.