The US is to open talks with Cuba about establishing full diplomatic relations and reopening an embassy in Havana, potentially bringing to an end five decades of hostility and one of the last vestiges of the Cold War.
The dramatic move to thaw relations began with a prisoner swap, including three Cuban agents held in US jails and Alan Gross, an American development worker who has been in a Cuban prison for five years on spying charges.
The rapprochement between the US and Cuba, which included a telephone call between President Barack Obama and President Raúl Castro on Tuesday evening, was brokered with the help of Canada and Pope Francis.