THE RISE OF WOMEN: Negotiations between the U.S. and Cuba begin with two influential women leading the way

President Obama recently loosened the embargo the United States has with Cuba. Now the next step is to negotiate and work towards less hostility and normalizing the relationship between the two countries.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - At the base of these negotiations are two influential women, Roberta Jacobson, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, general director of Cuba's U.S. Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

With quite the resume behind both of these women, the classically feuding countries may be closer to being civil.

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According to Carl Meacham, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the negotiations, although interestingly being held by women, are led by two people highly qualified to handle "a very sensitive topic at a very sensitive time as we move into normalization."

Jacobson, known as being calm and deliberate, got to where she is now through hard work and dedication. She worked as the senior post in the Peru embassy during 2000. She held numerous key positions throughout the State Department including being a negotiator for the attempts to counter drugs, organized crime and political corruption in Mexico, called the Merida Initiative.

Jacobson also played a part in creating NAFTA and handled negotiations between Canada and Mexico in their trades.

"She was able to rise through the ranks the way she has because of her competence. She's very competent in her expertise," said Meacham to NBC News.

"Roberta Jacobson combines the best abilities of a diplomat and a Latin American analyst," said Arturo Lopez-Levy, adjunct faculty at the NYU School of Professional Studies Center for Global Affairs to NBC News. "She has perfect Spanish with an Argentinian accent and since 1986 showed a fine knowledge of the links between religion, civil society and revolutionary politics in Latin America."

Jacobson's co-negotiator, Vidal is also highly praised.

Vidal is describe as an up and coming leader who pays attention to what is actually happening in her country, as far as economic growth and general change.

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Previously, she has served on the Cuba Intersects Section in Washington D.C.

"If someone were to predict the possibility of Cuba having its first woman chancellor, I would say it would be Josefina (Vidal Ferreiro) due to the depth and seriousness of her work. She has an international legal background from a prestigious international relations institute in Moscow, and has a knowledge of Cuba and the U.S. like few others," said Lopez-Levy to NBC News.

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