Dear Editor,
The recent Summit of the Americas in Panama will be remembered for the historic meeting between United States President Barack Obama and Cuba’s President Raul Castro.
This is the first such meeting between the two heads of state for over fifty years and represented a paradigm shift in US-Cuba relations.
The recent decision taken to restore diplomatic ties between the two countries and now the historic handshake by the two presidents now set the stage for the lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba by the United States. This is the next logical step in the restoration of full fledged relations between these two powerful neighbours and will certainly be the crowning jewel for the Obama administration.
President Obama will go down in history as the only US President who took the bold and courageous step to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba despite strong resistance from the Republicans and other right wing forces who seem stuck in a cold war mentality. The world is changing and as President Obama so correctly pointed out, America cannot live in the past but must be willing to embrace change.
History is unfolding before our very eyes and one can only hope that this momentum of change and development in our hemisphere will be consolidated and deepened.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally