Two US senators met with Cuban President Raul Castro in what one characterized as a "wide-ranging discussion" that included the fate of imprisoned American contractor Alan Gross. Castro rarely meets with US officials. His last such encounters were with members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 2009 and in 2010 with former President Jimmy Carter.
"We talked about everything from scuba diving to relations, and of course Alan Gross," Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said on Friday. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, also participated in the Thursday night meeting, which lasted more than two hours. The meeting took place as the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington announced plans to host what it called the "1st National Encounter" with Cubans living in the United States. The meeting will bring together Cuban-Americans "who have respectful links to their country," in order to discuss "the normalisation of relations" between Cuba and the exile community in the United States, the statement said.
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