USA and Cuban officials said the aviation deal was reached Wednesday in Washington, a day before the anniversary of the declaration of detente between the former Cold War foes.
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The U.S. says it is close to an agreement with Cuba on restoring regularly scheduled, commercial flights between the countries.
Several U.S. airlines have already expressed interest in handling the Cuba-bound flights. Now, passengers will be able to buy tickets directly from major airlines, which will prove a boost to both business and tourism in Cuba.
USA and Cuban officials could make a formal announcement before year’s end. The U.S. State Department and Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C. did not respond immediately to USA TODAY requests for comment. Charter flights have connected the two countries in the interim. That has led to a boom in US citizens’ visits to Cuba, which are up 71 percent this year, with 138,120 Americans arriving over the first 11 months.
To many in the Republican party that controls both houses, Mr Castro and his big brother Fidel remain bitter enemies of both the United States and the Cuban people. A group of Cuban-born baseball stars once disdained by the island’s government for defecting to the United States taught their craft to some of the island’s youngest players on Wednesday as part of a triumphant return to Cuba.
US teams played spring training games in Cuba before Castro’s revolution but none appeared here from March 1959 until the Baltimore Orioles faced Cuba’s national team in Havana in March 1999.
Ms Vidal said: “On the political and diplomatic plane, and in bilateral cooperation, we’ve seen important progress”. It’s not clear if commercial flights would completely replace charters.
During the historic reopening of the U-S embassy in Cuba in July, Charge d’ Affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis took on being the leader establishing diplomacy between the two nations after 53 years. Hotels and personal hostals are booked for months.
Similar policies for the major leagues would be far more hard due to the USA trade embargo on Cuba and Cuban fears that broad legalization of departures to the US would make the talent drain even worse.
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In the US, banks afraid of running afoul of the embargo have been blocking legal Cuba-related transactions at rates equal to or higher than before Obama’s announcement.
