By Solomiya Syvyk
News Editor

After 54 years of isolation, the United States and Cuba announced in December that they had intentions of restoring diplomatic relations. Ties between the countries were broken in 1961, one year after President Dwight D. Eisenhower placed the first embargo on the communist island nation.

The most recent talks began on Wednesday, Jan. 21 in Cuba’s capital of Havana with the main focus being the reestablishment of embassies.

For five decades, each nation merely acknowledged one another’s diplomatic outposts known as interest sections which serve the same purpose as embassies, but the working diplomats are rather limited in comparison.

Meanwhile, using his executive authority, President Obama has relaxed U.S. restrictions on travel and business as Cuba agreed to liberate 53 political prisoners.

Despite the historic thaw, differences between the countries remain as obstacles on the negotiation table; primarily the matter of human rights in Cuba, with its practice of apprehending citizens who speak out against the government.

Agreeing to disagree for the time being, Randal C. Archibold from the New York Times wrote, “Later both sides discussed topics beyond diplomatic relations, including law enforcement, telecommunications, the coordination of responses to oil spills, and Ebola, but neither side offered details or said any accords had been reached.”

The following Wed. Jan. 28, Cuba’s president attended and spoke at the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in Costa Rica, where, according to Eyder Peralta from NPR, “President Raúl Castro said a rapprochement with its northern neighbor would not make sense without three conditions: 1. The lifting of the U.S. embargo on Cuba. 2. The return of the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay3. Compensation for “human and economic damage” the Cuban people have suffered.”

On Thursday, the White House said it does not anticipate to return Guantánamo Bay, a sliver of land in the southeast corner of the island which holds a strategic U.S. naval base and military prison.

That same day, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a Cuba Travel Bill which aims for a permanent clearing of all American travel restrictions to Cuba.

The current economic embargo may only be lifted with congressional approval; the probability of this occurrence is controversial with the unlikelihood stemming from the Republican-controlled Congress.

While the United States pushes to restore its embassy, Cuba is reluctant, with the demand that it first be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. But, this process may take, at least, another 4 months and the aim is to restore diplomatic ties before April, when President Obama is scheduled to attend a regional summit in Panama to meet Cuban leader Raul Castro.

The second round of talks between the countries’ diplomats is to take place in Washington in early March.