President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro will be at the Summit of the Americas this week in Panama, but the White House isn’t yet saying whether they’ll meet.
The meeting would be the first between the two since Obama announced in December that he wants to restore diplomatic ties with the communist-led nation.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday he didn’t yet have any “news” about Obama’s schedule for the summit, which opens Friday.
The White House had hoped a first step would be opening embassies in the two countries, but that remains unrealized.
Earnest said the administration is “hopeful that we’ll be able to take the kinds of steps toward normalizing our relationship with Cuba that would include the opening of embassies in this country and in Cuba,” but said Obama realized it would take time.
“The president is understanding that when you have a country that has essentially been ostracized by the United States for five decades that it's going to take a little bit of time to re-establish some trust and to re-establish to make these kinds of agreements,” Earnest said. “When you consider the 50-year history between our two countries, three months doesn't seem like very long.”
One sticking point has remained Cuba’s continued appearance on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which results in financial and regulatory sanctions against the island. Obama in December asked for a State Department review of whether Cuba should remain on the list.
Earnest declined to comment on the status of the listing, referring reporters to the State Department.
“I wouldn't want to characterize the private conversations that are ongoing, but we know that is a priority for the Cubans and it's one that we are actively working on over at the State Department,” Earnest said.