Cuba Debt Holder Hangs on as Demand Builds for Defaulted Loans

A historic breakthrough in U.S.-Cuba relations has set investors clamouring to buy the Caribbean island's long-defaulted debt but one of the biggest private holders of the distressed loans is refusing to cash in yet. Following five decades of Cold War confrontation between the United States and Cuba's communist government, President Barack Obama surprised the world in December, announcing Washington would restore diplomatic ties with Havana and lift some economic sanctions. Events have moved fast since: Cuba is to come off the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro in April, and the Paris Club of wealthy creditor nations is working on expediting debt talks.