Chris Dodd in Cuba for talks with officials

From EFE

HAVANA – Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) is on a trip to Cuba for meetings with officials of the Raul Castro government, U.S. sources on the island told Efe.

Dodd arrived in Havana over the weekend for a series of meetings aimed at analyzing the best way to improve relations between the two countries, which have not had diplomatic ties for 50 years.

The sources did not reveal the identities of the Cuban officials nor what was discussed.

Dodd, a critic of the 48-year-old U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, is a co-sponsor of a Senate bill that would eliminate travel restrictions for Americans who want to visit the island, and would also ease trade relations.

Under current law and regulation, only Cuban-Americans with relatives in their homeland can freely travel to the island.

Dodd’s visit comes at a time when relations between Cuba and the United States is also marked by the situation of U.S. contractor Alan Gross, held by the Cuban government since last December on suspicion of espionage.

Another who visited the island recently was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who favors improving bilateral relations and has taken an interest in what is happening to Gross, whose release he said would be a “very positive humanitarian gesture.”

Gross, 60, works for a Maryland company hired by the U.S. Agency for International Development to promote democracy in communist Cuba.

He was arrested for distributing laptop computers, mobile phones and other communications equipment to groups opposed to the Cuban government, according to Havana, which has yet to bring any formal charges against the contractor.