Cuba

Popular US hotel chain Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has, according to a Reuters report, become the first company from the US to sign a deal with Cuba since 1959: Starwood will manage and market two properties in Havana and signed a letter of intent to operate a third. Such deals would normally be prohibited under the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba, but Starwood received special permission from the U.S. Treasury Department last week.

The president will visit Cuba as part of a Latin American tour next month:

The US president confirmed his Cuba trip in a post on Twitter, saying: “Next month, I’ll travel to Cuba to advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the Cuban people.”

The Washington Post absurdly declares that normalization with Cuba is “failing” because it hasn’t yet dramatically changed the country’s political system:

Yet there is scant evidence so far of a sea change in Cuba — perhaps because Mr. Obama continues to offer the Castro regime unilateral concessions requiring nothing in return.