A woman who invited US President Barack Obama to her home in Cuba has received a response from the president, as direct mail links between the two countries were restored, thе BBC reports.
Ileana Yarza, 76, wrote to Mr Obama in February, inviting him to have “a cup of Cuban coffee” at her home in Havana.
The president’s letter, thanking Ms Yarza, was dispatched to Cuba on Wednesday.
It was among the first batch of letters to reach Cuba from the US in 50 years.
Direct postal service between the two countries was suspended at the height of the Cold War, meaning mail was re-routed through other countries – usually Mexico or Canada.
Ms Yarza wrote to Mr Obama on 18 February after finding out he would be visiting Cuba in March, telling him: “There are not many Cubans so eager as I to meet you in person.”
The president thanked Ms Yarza for her support, adding that the letter “serves as a reminder of a bright new chapter in the relationship between [their] two nations.”
An American president has not traveled to Cuba in almost 90 years. But on March 20, President Obama will set foot on the island country that’s only 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The visit is a historic milestone after more than a year of progress from the day in December of 2014 when the President first announced he was abandoning a failed, Cold War-era approach to Cuba in favor of a new course to normalize relations.