Havana, May 16 (RHC) – Honduran Foreign Minister Mireya Agüero held talks yesterday with Cuban Vice President Ulises Rosales del Toro and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, aimed at advancing the normalization of diplomatic relations.

Agüero said Havana and Tegucigalpa should continue to work together to strengthen bilateral ties, and thanked Cuba for its medical personnel on loan to Honduras since 1998.

For his part, the Cuban foreign minister praised the recent contacts between the two countries, and expressed the island's willingness to strengthen cooperation with the Central American country.

Diplomatic ties were officially re-established in 2002 when outgoing Honduran President Carlos Flores, 10 hours before leaving office, ended his country's support of the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba, describing it as "inconvenient." Diplomatic ties were severed in 1961 when Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States.

Seven years after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, Cuba recalled its ambassador from Honduras in 2009, when President Manuel Zelaya was removed from government by a military coup.  Cuba remains represented in Cuba by a business attaché.