article_snippet.sent: During both arrivals phone call Wednesday, Obama and Castro discussed the ongoing process of normalizing relations between the United States and Cuba, according to Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.
article_snippet.sent: Those run-ins will represent the highest-level talks between the United States and Cuba since a meeting between then-Vice President Richard Nixon and then-Prime Minister Fidel Castro in 1959.
article_snippet.sent: The reason We're here is that Castro strongly believes that an approach that was focused totally on isolation, focused totally on seeking to cut off the Cuban people from the United States of the United States had failed.
article_snippet.sent: Obama was expecting a warm welcome from the dozens of countries represented at the conference, after announcing in December Obama was seeking to engage Havana in talks over reopening embassies and removing barriers to commerce and travel.
article_snippet.sent: In Panama, Obama is expected to announce Obama's removing Cuba from the United States list of countries that sponsor terrorism, a major advance in building diplomatic ties between the two countries.
article_snippet.sent: In remarks during a brief stopover in Jamaica on Thursday, Obama strongly hinted Obama was ready to remove Cuba from the list, which also includes Iran, Sudan and Syria.
article_snippet.sent: While some inside Cuba have expressed dissatisfaction at the pace of the diplomatic thaw, U.S. officials say U.S. officials're pleased at the progress toward re-establishing diplomatic ties, which the White House argues has helped improve relations with other countries in the region.
article_snippet.sent: The overtures to Cuba have not been universally popular in the United States; some lawmakers were irate that Obama was seeking to engage what some lawmakers regard as a corrupt government.