The top U.S. diplomat for Latin America expressed concern Monday about the "violent silencing" of dissidents in Cuba, days before the resumption of U.S.-Cuba talks.

"Concerned about violent silencing of peaceful voices for change in Cuba," tweeted Roberta Jacobson, who last month led the first negotiations on restoring diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana after decades in the deep freeze.

IDT Corporation, the largest U.S.-based provider of international long distance calling, has reached an agreement with Cuba's ETECSA telecom company to provide phone service between the two countries as they normalize relations.

The Cuban company, Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A., said in a statement Friday that the deal enables "the reestablishment of direct communication between the United States and Cuba."

The United States will continue to push Cuba on its human rights record, American lawmakers said in Havana on Thursday, insisting reopening diplomatic channels was the best way to do so.

A team of nine Democratic Congress members are in the communist island nation for talks aimed at normalizing relations between the former Cold War foes.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday that he had visited Cuba and met retired leader Fidel Castro, considered one of his leftist mentors.

Maduro, whose country is facing a severe economic crisis, said his talk with the ailing Castro focused on global issues.

The United States and Cuba will hold their second round of talks on normalizing relations in Washington on February 27, the State Department said Tuesday.

"I can confirm that the talks will be held on the 27th here at the State Department - the 27th of February," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Plans to restore ties with Cuba came under fire Tuesday in the first volley of a long battle in the Republican-led Congress amid accusations the Obama administration is conceding too much with few guarantees on human rights.

Potential 2016 White House hopeful Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has been loudly critical of the change to the decades-old policy, presided over a packed Senate subcommittee hearing to examine the impact of the U.S. policy.

Cuba's retired leader Fidel Castro has been seen in photographs for the first time in five months, meeting with a student leader in an apparent bid to scotch rumors about his health.

The pictures published late Monday by state media showed Castro, 88, with his grey hair and beard, wearing a blue tracksuit and checkered shirt as he sat on a chair in his house along with his wife, Dalia Soto del Valle.

Cuban President Raul Castro gave an endorsement to peace between the United States and his communist country Thursday, with the two nations in talks to restore ties after decades of animosity.

Asked by a journalist at a summit of Latin American and Caribbean states what he would most like to see after the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba is lifted, Castro barked: "Peace, peace between us, peace between the United States and us.

Efforts to improve ties with Cuba will not extend to handing control of Guantanamo Bay back to Havana, the White House said on Thursday.

"The president does believe that the prison at Guantanamo Bay should be closed down," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "But the naval base is not something that we wish to be closed."

Barring female guards from handling inmates at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay poses a "risk" to the soldiers working there, the commander of a top-secret prison unit said Wednesday.

The commander was testifying at a hearing over a discrimination complaint brought by several women deployed to the remote U.S. base in southeastern Cuba.