US, Cuba start historic talks on restoring ties
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THE United States and Cuba began historic discussions on restoring diplomatic relations yesterday, aiming to reach agreement on the opening of embassies in each other’s countries.
The meeting began at about 9am led by US Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson and Josefina Vidal, director of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry. Seated opposite each other at separate tables both women were flanked by their chief of missions in Havana and Washington. They made no public remarks.
Both sides have appeared cautious ahead of the talks, the first since US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced on December 17 they would work to restore diplomatic ties snapped by Washington in 1961.
A contentious session on immigration on Wednesday, led by Vidal and Jacobson’s deputy, Alex Lee, accentuated the difficulties in overcoming half a century of hostilities.
“The productive and collaborative nature of today’s discussion proves that despite the clear differences that remain between our countries, the United States and Cuba can find opportunities to advance our mutually shared interests,” Lee said after the talks.
Senior US officials say they hope Cuba will agree to reopen embassies and appoint ambassadors in each other’s capitals in coming months.
The United States also wants travel curbs on its diplomats lifted and for Cuba to hand over US fugitives.
Meanwhile, Cuba wants the United States to remove it from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that is under review by the US State Department.
During talks on Wednesday, the Americans vowed to continue to grant safe haven to Cubans with special protections denied to other nationalities.
US policy gives Cubans who set foot in the United States quick access to permanent residency while those caught at sea are deported.
Cuba complained the US law promotes dangerous illegal immigration and protested against a separate US program that encourages Cuban doctors to defect, calling it a “reprehensible brain drain practice.”
Jacobson’s visit is the first to Cuba by a US assistant secretary of state in 38 years. She is the highest-ranking US visitor in 35 years.
Despite resistance from some in Congress, Obama has set the United States on a path toward removing economic sanctions and a 53-year-old trade embargo against Cuba.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said he looked forward to formally opening a US embassy in Cuba. Kerry also said he was prepared, when the time was right, to meet his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, with whom he has only talked by telephone.
“And when it is timely, when it is appropriate, I look forward to traveling to Cuba in order to formally open an embassy and begin to move forward,” Kerry told reporters in Washington.
In his annual State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Obama urged Congress to start work on ending the embargo, but critics say Obama first needs to win concessions on a list of issues.
They include: Cuban political prisoners and democratic rights, the claims of US citizens whose property was nationalized after Cuba’s 1959 revolution, and US fugitives who have received asylum in Cuba.
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