U.S. and Cuba to open immigration talks

The U.S. will restart talks with the Cuban government, the Obama administration announced Sunday.

The two governments will resume negotiations about legal immigration and open mail service from Cuba to the U.S. that stalled in 2003, according to a senior government official.

The Cuban government agreed to the U.S. request to restart talks in a sign that the historically chilly relationship between the two countries may be chilling under President Obama, who’d made outreach to the communist government a priority.

The announcement also foreshadows a trip to Latin America this week by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during which Cuba may be added to the Organization of American States (OAS) after having first been suspended in the early 1960s.

President George W. Bush suspended talks with Cuba in 2003.