US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spent Friday discussing soil management and crop diseases at a cooperative farm in central Cuba, part of an American push to cement detente with the communist island before President Barack Obama leaves office, AP reported. Inside both governments, advocates of a closer relationship are struggling against obstacles that include the US trade embargo on Cuba, resistance among Cuban-Americans in Congress and a Cuban reluctance to open to the US before Washington does away with more of the embargo. Both sides have been pushing to create momentum as the first anniversary of the declaration of detente nears.
