President Obama tore down the last vestiges of the Iron Curtain yesterday, announcing an historic deal aimed at ushering Cuba out of the cold.
Months of secret talks in which the Pope emerged as a key player resulted in Mr Obama and Raúl Castro, the Cuban president, telling their countries in choreographed addresses that they were ready to bury the past.
Cuba — out of bounds to American tourists and businesses since 1960 — will normalise relations with the United States, and embassies will be established in Havana and Washington DC. The promised lifting of the US trade embargo is set to flood the island’s crumbling economy with billions of dollars. For the first time in decades, Americans will be able to smoke Cuban cigars