Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro prepared to hold historic talks tomorrow, a US official said, setting up the first substantive meeting between an American and Cuban leader since the 1950s.
Obama and Castro were in Panama today for the two-day Summit of the Americas, Cuba's first, marking a landmark follow-up to their historic announcement on December 17 that their countries would restore ties severed since 1961.
"We certainly do anticipate that they will have the opportunity to see each other at the summit tomorrow, to have a discussion," senior Obama advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters today.
He said the extent of the meeting had yet to be decided, but that the two leaders will "take stock" of the negotiations to normalize relations and reopen embassies, as well as discuss lingering "differences."
The meeting will be the first since Obama and Castro briefly shook hands at Nelson Mandela's funeral in December 2013.
An actual discussion would be the first substantive talks between US and Cuban leaders since 1956, when President Dwight Eisenhower met dictator Fulgencio Batista, who was toppled by Fidel Castro three years later.
That meeting also happened in Panama.
Rhodes said Obama and Castro had already discussed the ongoing negotiations and the upcoming summit by telephone Wednesday -- their first phone call since December, just before they announced the game-changing diplomatic thaw.
But he said there was no decision yet on one of the key obstacles in the negotiations, Cuba's presence on the US blacklist of state sponsors of terror.
"I'm not ruling out any announcement but... We are not there yet in terms of a final recommendation being made to the president, and the president making a determination," Rhodes said.
Cuba's presence on the blacklist -- which also includes Iran, Sudan and Syria -- has been a major sticking point in negotiations to reopen embassies.
Cuba was first to be placed on the list in 1982 for harbouring Basque separatist militants and Colombian FARC rebels, restricting the country's access to global bank credit.
If and when Obama decides Cuba should be removed from the list, Congress will have 45 days to decide whether to override his recommendation.
US lawmakers who have been critical of the diplomatic detente could seize on the review of the list to further attack Obama's Cuba policy.
