LatinNews Daily - 03 September 2009

Cuba: This week officials from the US State Department and the US Postal Service (who asked not to be named) reported that talks regarding the possibility of renewing direct correspondence between the US and Cuba are set to be held later this month. Since 1963, mail sent between the two countries has been redirected through Mexico or Canada and, as a result, letters that should take two or four days to reach their destination are delayed by up to 4 months. For years Cuba has tried to stall talks about resuming direct mail because it feared that radical exiles in the US would send bombs through the post. Both former US presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, offered to renew direct mail but Cuba and the US could not reach an agreement. The new prospect of talks is the latest sign of the rapprochement between the two countries following US President Barack Obama's declared intention to "recast" relations with Cuba.