Cuban Expansionism

Tentative Steps Toward Reconciliation

The Carter Administration is moving rapidly to normalize relations with Cuba after 17 years of bitterness, acrimony and mutual distrust.1 There are too many imponderables to predict how far the process of accommodation will go, but both sides have sent unmistakable signals of their desire to improve the political climate. Early in March, Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance proposed U.S.-Cuban talks, “without preconditions,” on a variety of issues. At the same time, the State Department gave permission to a South Dakota basketball team and to a group of Minnesota businessmen to travel to Cuba. On March 18, President Carter lifted all restrictions on travel to the island.2 Late in the month, diplomatic representatives of the two ...