Sense of relief

The Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), issued a statement last Thursday welcoming the agreement between Cuba and the US to take steps to normalise diplomatic and economic relations. The statement said the release of the three remaining "Cuban Five" who were jailed in the US on false charges of espionage and the decision to renew diplomatic relations represented a victory for the Cuban people and government "who have faced more than five decades of efforts by the United States to isolate it". The statement led a Bharatiya Janata Party MP to remark that both the Cuban head of state Raul Castro and the US President Barack Obama would be much relieved now that the CPI(M) had welcomed the decision to end years of Cold War hostility.