By Larry Moonze in Havana, Cuba on June 5, 2018, The Mast

DIRECT mail service between the United States and Cuba has fully been re-established after the completion of a pilot programme.
The US Postal Service and Correos de Cuba on Friday “agreed to permanently implement through direct flights, the exchange of postal mail between the two countries”, the Cuban mail service stated in a statement.
Correos de Cuba stated that all of the security and technical requirements identified during the pilot programme that began in March 2016 had been implemented.
The Directorate of Institutional Communication of the Correos de Cuba Business Group stated that “the implementation of the service in its current format began on April 16, 2018 and takes into account the technical, operational and safety requirements identified by the parties during the implementation of the pilot plan…. The re-establishment of this service allows for direct mailings on direct flights between Cuba and the United States of America, postal parcels and express courier services through the post offices of both countries.”
Packages, express service mail and regular correspondence can now be delivered on direct flights between Cuba and the United States.
Direct mail between the United States and Cuba was suspended for nearly half a century due to Washington’s blockade policy against Cuba.
Reestablishing the mail service was one of the first steps taken by former US president Barack Obama when the two nations re-established diplomatic ties in 2015.
While on-line communication tools like email have largely made written personal letters obsolete, the mail service was still needed to send packages with medicine, food and other items.