Top US and Cuban dignitaries meet for first time in decades

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez met privately in Panama on Thursday, in what was the highest-level meeting between the two governments since 1959.

The meeting took place just days ahead of an expected encounter between Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro at the Summit of the Americas in Panama, where the United States and Cuba will continue attempts to restore ties they abandoned more than 50 years ago.

In December, Obama and Castro announced their intention to restore diplomatic relations, beginning a painstaking process that has brought to the surface difficult issues that have long fed into the U.S.-Cuban estrangement.

The U.S. said Thursday’s meeting between Kerry and Rodriguez was lengthy and that the leaders agreed to keep working to address unresolved issues.

Washington is pushing Cuba to allow more freedom of movement for U.S. diplomats within Cuba, while Cuba wants relief from a sanctions regime that only Congress can fully lift.

In the days before this year's Summit of the Americas — the first to include Cuba — Obama and Castro sought to set a productive and optimistic tone for their highly anticipated encounter, and even spoke by telephone.

While in Jamaica on Wednesday, Obama signaled that he would soon act to remove Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, eliminating a stigma that has been a source of friction for Havana.

During remarks in Kingston, Obama said the State Department had completed its review of the list and that he was waiting for a recommendation from his advisers.

“We don't want to be imprisoned by the past,” Obama said. “When something doesn't work for 50 years, you don't just keep on doing it. You try something new.”

On Thursday, a source on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff told Reuters the U.S. State Department had recommended that Obama remove Cuba from the list.

Wire services