SA welcomes softening on ties between the US and Cuba
01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author
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The South African government has hailed US President Barack Obama's announcement of moves to "normalise" his country's diplomatic ties with Cuba.
The government also welcomed the release of three of the so-called Cuban Five, who were held in the US for shooting down a civilian plane in 1996, killing four pilots.
The three were released on Wednesday in a prisoner swop that has been slated by the families of the US pilots.
The Department of International Relations says South Africa had consistently called for the release of the Cuban Five and the lifting of the trade embargo against Cuba.
Following Obama's announcement, Cuban president Raul Castro called on the US to end its more than five decades long trade embargo, which has caused enormous damage to the Cuban economy.
The US cut economic and diplomatic ties with the Caribbean island state in the early 1960s.