US envoy to UN visits Cuba's UN Mission, a first in decades

US envoy to UN visits Cuba's UN Mission, a first in decades
BY EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS
Samantha Power made the first visit by an American ambassador to the
United Nations to Cuba's U.N. Mission in over a half-century on Friday.

U.S. Mission spokeswoman Hagar Chemali said Power discussed the
normalization of relations between the two countries and priorities at
the United Nations during her first-ever meeting with Cuba's U.N.
Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez.

Cuba and the United States broke off diplomatic relations in 1961 during
tense Cold War times. After almost 54 years of hostilities, U.S.
President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced on Dec.
17 that they would negotiate a restoration of ties. That happened on
July 20 when the two countries formally re-established diplomatic relations.

"President Obama reversed 50 years of policy on Cuba because he
believed, as do I, that we can do more to support the Cuban people and
promote our values through engagement," Power said in a statement.

"Isolation has not worked," she said.

Power said ending that isolation whether by restoring diplomatic
relations, Obama's first meeting with Raul Castro, Secretary of State
John Kerry's upcoming visit to Havana, "or the simple act of going down
the street to visit the Cuban U.N. ambassador for the first time in a
half-century — these are the measures that open dialogue and give us the
opportunity to stand up for our values, including human rights and human
dignity."

She said this "will ultimately do more to help the Cuban people than the
outdated policy of the past."

Power has set a personal goal of visiting the U.N. mission of every
country that the U.S. has diplomatic relations with and according to
U.S. officials Cuba was the 127th. There are 193 U.N. member states and
the U.S. has no relations with several including North Korea and Iran.

Source: US envoy to UN visits Cuba's UN Mission, a first in decades |
Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article29709673.html