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U.S.-Cuba talks set to begin amid bilateral optimism U.S.-Cuba talks begin amid bilateral optimism
(about 2 hours later)
HAVANA — The most senior U.S. official to visit Cuba in decades arrived here Wednesday for a day of talks on normalizing relations between the two countries. HAVANA — The most senior U.S. official to visit Cuba in decades arrived here Wednesday for talks on normalizing relations between the two countries, barely a month after President Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced an end to 61 years of official estrangement.
The talks will be led by Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson, who will join her Cuban counterpart, Josefina Vidal, the head of the Americas section of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, at an informal dinner before their official discussions begin Thursday on restoring diplomatic ties that were severed 61 years ago. After a working dinner Wednesday night, Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson and Josefina Vidal, head of the Americas section of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, will meet Thursday to formally initiate discussions on reopening embassies in the two capitals.
Both sides have put an optimistic face on the talks, which will center on prospects for the early opening of embassies in their respective capitals. But both have agendas that are likely to require negotiation beyond this week’s inaugural meeting. Both sides have put an optimistic face on the talks. But both have agendas that are likely to require additional negotiation beyond this week’s inaugural meeting.
Cuba wants the United States to remove it from its list of “state sponsors of terrorists” as a first order of business, a senior Cuban official said Tuesday. While the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said removal from the terrorism blacklist was not a precondition for restoring ties, he said it was “inconceivable” that the two nations could have relations if Cuba remains “unfairly on that list.” Vidal, considered a powerful, up-and-coming figure in the Cuban hierarchy, also headed a separate session Wednesday of the biannual U.S.-Cuba talks on migration issues, part of a dialogue begun in 1995.
A State Department review of Cuba’s presence on the list — which also includes Sudan, Syria and Iran — began when President Obama last month announced plans to normalize relations with the island. While Obama authorized six months for the review, senior State Department officials said it is unlikely to take that long. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Jacobson’s deputy, Alex Lee, Vidal said that, while there was ongoing cooperation on technical issues and between the U.S. Coast Guard and Cuban border patrol, Havana continues to object to the U.S. “wet foot, dry foot” policy that allows any Cuban who sets foot on U.S. soil to apply for permanent residency.
The process includes gathering information from intelligence and other agencies to certify that Cuba has not provided any support for terrorism within the last six months and assurances that it is not likely to do so in the future. In its annual reports on the list, the State Department has not indicated any Cuban support for outside terrorism and mentioned only the presence here for many years of some members of the ETA — Basque militants from Spain; several U.S. fugitives; and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The policy encouraged Cubans to leave the country illegally, often in unseaworthy craft, she said, and had led to increasing illegal entry of Cubans into the United States through third countries, often via human trafficking over the Mexico border or with false documents.
Spain long ago stopped seeking the extradition of the ETA members. Possible extradition of dozens of U.S. fugitives can be a subject of negotiation with the United States under a 100-year-old treaty with Cuba whose reactivation is likely to be part of further negotiations. The FARC members are here as part of peace negotiations with the Colombian government, sponsored by Cuba and Norway, which the United States has blessed. In an indication of the breadth of the distance between the two governments over a range of issues, Vidal also faulted the United States for encouraging the defection of Cuban doctors and other professionals working in third countries as part of Cuba’s foreign aid programs.
When the review is finished, Obama will receive a recommendation from the State Department. Assuming he approves Cuba’s removal from the list, he must then transmit his decision to Congress for a 45-day waiting period until it takes effect. Lee told reporters that the “wet foot, dry foot” policy would “very much remain in effect,” as would the Cuban Adjustment Act, which he said would “continue to guide U.S. migration policy toward Cuba.”
The State Department official said the United States would expect normalization “going forward even while there is a waiting period” for formal removal from the list. Cuba also wants the United States to remove it from its list of “state sponsors of terrorists,” a senior Cuban official said Tuesday. While the official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said removal was not a precondition for restoring ties, he said it was “inconceivable” that the two nations could have relations if Cuba remains “unfairly on that list.”
Cuba’s presence on the list, along with Sudan, Syria and Iran, has long been an anomaly attributable more to the overall estrangement between the two countries than Cuban actions. While the others are accused of ongoing sponsorship of terrorist acts abroad, Cuba’s sins, according to the annual State Department report on the list, include the presence here for decades of members of ETA, the Spanish Basque militant organization, whose return Spain long ago stopped seeking.
Cuba is also accused of harboring several dozen U.S. fugitives, including Joanne Chesimard, wanted in the 1971 slaying of a New Jersey state trooper.
Obama has ordered the State Department to review Cuba’s listing, which dates to 1982, and recommend a course of action. Assuming he approves Cuba’s removal, he must then transmit his decision to Congress for a 45-day waiting period until it takes effect.
A senior State Department official said the United States would expect normalization “going forward even while there is a waiting period” for formal removal from the list.
The senior Cuban official also said that relations could not be fully normalized until the U.S. trade embargo, initially imposed in 1960, is completely lifted. In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, Obama called on Congress to do so, saying that “we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date.”The senior Cuban official also said that relations could not be fully normalized until the U.S. trade embargo, initially imposed in 1960, is completely lifted. In his State of the Union speech Tuesday, Obama called on Congress to do so, saying that “we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date.”
But Cuban officials are well-aware that any congressional action will take time. Last week, Obama used his executive authority to adjust regulations on the embargo, including a loosening of travel restrictions, an increase in the amount of money U.S. citizens can send to Cuba, and expanded allowances for certain U.S. exports, such as telecommunications technology and equipment, and building materials. But Cuban officials are well aware that any congressional action will take time and is far from assured. Last week, Obama used his executive authority to adjust regulations on the embargo, including an easing of travel and trade restrictions.
American officials say that as part of the embassy negotiations, they will ask Cuba to lift restrictions on the number of staff members they can have in Havana, and to ease the heavy security presence around the building — which currently serves as an Interests Section under the protection of the Swiss government — that it says intimidates Cubans from approaching the building to visit the consulate or other offices. As part of the embassy negotiations, U.S. officials want Cuba to lift restrictions on the number of U.S. diplomats here and to ease the heavy security presence around the building that it says intimidates Cubans from visiting.
Obama has said the United States will continue to push Havana on issues of human rights and democracy as it moves toward a new relationship. Jacobson plans to hold a breakfast for Cuban civil society representatives, human rights activists and political dissidents Friday before her departure.Obama has said the United States will continue to push Havana on issues of human rights and democracy as it moves toward a new relationship. Jacobson plans to hold a breakfast for Cuban civil society representatives, human rights activists and political dissidents Friday before her departure.
The senior Cuban official said his government would also raise its “concerns” about human rights issues in the United States, citing the police controversies in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City.The senior Cuban official said his government would also raise its “concerns” about human rights issues in the United States, citing the police controversies in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City.
“Those are things that don’t happen in our country,” the official said. U.S. opponents of normalization, who have charged that Obama has gotten little in return for what they describe as a “gift” to Castro and Cuba’s communist government, called for additional American demands to be immediately put on the table.
“Cuba wants to establish a civilized relationship, but we have profound differences and conceptions about many issues,” he said. “It’s a matter of finding areas of mutual interest and cooperation.” In a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said that Jacobson “must prioritize the interests of American citizens and businesses that have suffered at the hands of the Castro regime before providing additional economic and political concessions to a government that remains hostile to U.S. interests.”
Even without diplomatic relations, the United States and Cuba have held regular talks on a number of issues. Jacobson’s deputy, Alex Lee, is meeting with his Cuban counterparts here Wednesday for discussions on migration matters that have been held every six months since 1995.
U.S. officials have emphasized that this week’s talks will focus on the embassies, with further normalization matters to be part of ongoing discussions. They said they expect to amplify ongoing dialogues about migration, counternarcotics, environmental matters and a number of other issues.
But U.S. opponents of normalization, who have charged that Obama has gotten little in return for what they describe as a “gift” to President Raúl Castro and Cuba’s communist government, called for additional American demands to be immediately put on the table.
In a letter Wednesday to Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a Cuban American who is ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that “it is imperative” that Jacobson demand “unconditional freedom of the 53 political prisoners and demand an end to politically motivated arrests of peaceful democracy and human rights activists.” Menendez said that “restrictions” had been placed on 53 political detainees on a list presented by the administration during negotiations leading to this week’s meetings who the United States confirmed last week had been freed.
Menendez also called for Jacobson to press Cuba on a commitment to permit visits to all prisons and prisoners by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross and to begin to demand action on fugitives from U.S. justice and American citizen compensation claims for property nationalized by the Cuban government in past decades.
Jacobson, Menendez wrote, “must prioritize the interests of American citizens and businesses that have suffered at the hands of the Castro regime before providing additional economic and political concessions to a government that remains hostile to U.S. interests.”
For its part, Havana will raise issue of damages it has incurred as a result of sanctions, the Cuban official said Tuesday, which it estimates at over $1 trillion over the decades. He said he had “no information” about the presence of a Russian spy ship docked in the Havana harbor, identified by CNN as the Viktor Leonov, an intelligence vessel apparently used to conduct electronic eavesdropping on the United States.
“We regularly receive naval ships from different nations,” he said, “as long as they have peaceful intentions.”