Looking forward to better US-Cuban ties

US President Barack Obama's recent visit to Cuba was a truly historic event which hit the headlines throughout the world.

Who would have believed a few years ago that the presidents of the United States and Cuba would meet in Havana, embassies would be opened in their respective capitals, or that Obama would pledge that the US sought to "bury the last remnant" of the Cold War in the Americas?

I had a special reason to follow these tantalizing developments, as I feel a close personal attachment with Cuba, having visited the island as a member of the British delegation to the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba in the summer of 1997, attended by more than 12,000 young people from 136 countries.