WASHINGTON: The historic breakthrough in US-Cuban relations began in spring 2013, when President Barack Obama authorised secret talks with Cuba, the same tactic he used to open nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Months of talks in Canada and at the Vatican, involving one of Obama’s closest aides, culminated on Tuesday, when Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro spoke by phone for nearly an hour and gave final assent to steps that could end a half-century of enmity and reshape Western Hemisphere relations.

Obama believed that “if there is any U.S. foreign policy that has passed its expiration date, it is the US-Cuba policy”, said a senior Obama administration official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.

The official said that Pope Francis played a key role in the rapprochement between Washington and the last bastion of communism in the Western world. In early summer 2014, the pontiff — who is from Argentina — sent separate personal letters to Obama and Castro, urging them to exchange captives and to improve relations.

When the pope received the US president in Vatican City in late March, the secret Cuba talks were a central topic of discussion. Cuba “got as much attention as anything else,” the official said.

“The Vatican played a significant role,” Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, told Reuters. Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the Archbishop of Havana, also took part in the diplomacy, Durbin said. The secret talks, US officials said, were coordinated via diplomatic Interests Sections — short of full embassies - that the two sides maintain in each others’ capitals, as well as Cuba’s mission to the United Nations.

Published in Dawn December 18th , 2014