Relations across the Florida Straits turned so bad, that the two countries pushed the entire world to the brink of nuclear war.
Exploding cigars to blow up Cuba’s rebel leader Fidel Castro or toxic potions to make his trademark beard fall out were just two of hundreds of shadowy CIA plots to thwart the Communist Revolution.
U.S. congressional delegation travels to Cuba
But the Cold War between the U.S. and Cuba will begin to seriously thaw this week after more than half a century.
President Barack Obama is sending the highest-level U.S. delegation in decades to the island this week in a controversial bid to “normalize” ties between the two former arch foes.
Spearheading the U.S. diplomatic mission, Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs — she deals with Latin America and Cuba.
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On migration matters, Havana is especially upset over the U.S. law — the so-called “wet foot-dry foot law” — which allows Cubans citizenship for those who reach American soil. Cuban officials argue the law encourages Cubans to take the dangerous — often fatal — journey across the straits of Florida. It has been widely rumored that that legislation, seen as giving preferential migration status to Cubans, could be revoked.
But U.S. diplomatic sources in Havana told CNN the issue was “not being put on the table by us.”
Several American airlines have expressed interest in starting flights to Havana as soon as the two governments hammer out an agreement authorizing them.
And according to the office of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the governor plans on leading a trade mission to Cuba “in the coming term.”
This weekend, a separate U.S. delegation — led by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy and including five other congressmen — is in Cuba. This visit has no direct relationship to Jacobson’s delegation.
CNN’s Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.
