A Secret Dialogue between Washington and Havana with Peter Kornbluh

While the history of U.S.–Cuba relations is littered with acts of aggression--CIA assassination plots, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the trade embargo-- the story of back-channel communications and attempts at reconciliation is less well-known but far more relevant to the policy debate today. President Obama would do well to look to the hidden past as he faces the best opportunity in 50 years to normalize relations with Cuba.

Peter Kornbluh directs the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive in Washington D.C. and is the co-author of Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana.