Obama Wants US Embassy in Cuba By April

President Barack Obama said on Monday he is hoping the United States can open an embassy in Cuba ahead of the Western Hemisphere summit in Panama scheduled for April 10-11.

“My hope is that we will be able to open an embassy, and that some of the initial groundwork will have been laid” before the summit, Obama told Reuters. But the president added that there is a lot of work to be done before full normal relations would be restored.

U.S. and Cuban officials met for a second round of talks on Friday in Washington and Josefina Vidal, the head of the U.S. division of Cuban Foreign Ministry, said island nation was ready to move forward once the White House removes Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Officials have yet to set a date for a formal renewal of relations, which both countries announced in December. Read more at Reuters.

{Andy Heller-Matzav.com Newscenter}