The largest US congressional delegation to visit communist-ruled Cuba was to wrap up talks here yesterday, following a series of meetings with senior Cuban officials aimed at easing bilateral tensions.
The US lawmakers have been tight-lipped during the visit but scheduled a news conference for yesterday.
The unprecedented scope of the personalized push by Republican and Democratic legislators came two weeks after Cuban leader Raul Castro, filling in for his ailing brother Fidel Castro, signaled openness to dialogue with the US.
The US and Cuba do not have full diplomatic relations and the US government has maintained an economic embargo on the only one-party communist state in the Americas for decades.
The bipartisan delegation that arrived here on Friday has been pressing for the US government to lift the embargo and resume a dialogue with Havana, a move opposed by the Republican administration of President George W. Bush unless Cuba takes steps toward democracy.
Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, was co-leading the delegation with William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat.
Both are members of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Relations and leading members of the Cuba Working Group, which aims to foster better political, economic and cultural ties.
The US delegation met on Friday with Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly.
Among Saturday's round of events was a reception with Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and meetings with central bank Governor Francisco Soberon.
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