Cuban consulate in Dominican Rep

Cuba has opened a consulate in the Dominican Republic more than thirty years after the two countries suspended diplomatic ties.

Diplomatic relations were severed after the United States imposed an embargo on Cuba and strongly encouraged other countries in the region to cut their ties with the communist government.

But relations started to improve after the Dominican president, Leonel Fernandez, took office in 1996.

A Dominican consulate is due to open in Havana in January.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service