As President Barack Obama made a landmark visit to Cuba today, the White House extended an invitation to the island's Communist authorities to attend a regional energy summit later this year.
The strategic overture comes as Cuba's supply of crude from Venezuela at deeply discounted prices looks set to dry up.
Caracas's decade old "Petrocaribe" project, a vehicle for Venezuelan energy largess and political clout across Latin America has been hobbled by low crude prices, with dramatic knock-on effects for the government's budget and the broader economy.
The event in Washington will be chaired by Vice President Joe Biden.
