Gov. Cuomo heads to Cuba Monday on a trade mission that critics charge is aimed more at generating headlines than creating economic opportunities for New York. Cuomo will leave Monday morning and will spend just over a day on the island nation in what administration officials insist is an effort to open pathways for New York businesses.

When people talk about the resumption of relations between the United States and Cuba, as they did over the weekend as President Obama and President Raúl Castro sat down for the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in more than 50 years, they talk mostly about history and diplomacy and influence, and what it could mean for the future in terms of trade and travel, not to mention human rights. What they do not generally talk about, however, is fashion.

And the new star in Latin America is ... the United States? The reviews are in, and while the United States still faces plenty of tricky relations in a diverse region of 35 states, President Obama walked away with more salutes than swipes from a regional Summit of the Americas where the United States usually takes a drubbing. The question now is whether Mr. Obama and his successors can capitalize on the new credibility Washington has earned, primarily through his reconciliation with Havana.

Barack Obama and Raul Castro shook hands last night in an historic manifestation of thawing animosity between the US and Cuba after more than 50 years. The two presidents met at the Summit of the Americas. Obama and Castro will meet again today to talk about renewing diplomatic ties after they were severed 54 years ago after the 1959 revolution led by the Cuban leader and his brother Fidel.

The presidents of the United States and Cuba have spoken by phone for only the second time in more than 50 years, setting the stage for a historic encounter between the two leaders at a regional summit starting Friday in Panama. The extraordinary, late-night call between President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro came shortly after both leaders arrived in Panama City for the Summit of the Americas, which begins on Friday.

The former Cuban leader and lifelong revolutionary makes it clear that he won't stand in the way of diplomacy with Washington. 

President Obama's move to normalize relations with Cuba will test a theory that has been popular for years in Democratic circles, and a few Republican ones too. The Castro government doesn't fear the embargo and interminable hostilities with the United States; it has thrived on them, so the thinking goes. What worries the island's control-minded leaders far more is change.