2 yıl önce

US, Cuba hold first high-level talks in four years, discuss migration

The talks did not focus on broader US-Cuba relations but more narrowly on restoring adherence to previous agreements that were intended to curtail the often-dangerous irregular migration from the island to the United States.

AFP

Cuban authorities want to see the US follow through on its plan to restore consular services in Havana.

Cuba and the United States have taken a tentative step toward thawing relations and resuming joint efforts to address irregular migration.

The statement from a senior Cuban official came following the highest-level talks between the two countries in four years.

There were no major breakthroughs, but the mere fact that the US was holding substantive talks was a sign relations might be looking better under President Joe Biden after going into deep freeze under his predecessor, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said on Friday.

“They seem committed. They ratified that they are committed to the agreements in place," Fernandez de Cossio said. "So we have no reason to mistrust what they’re saying, but time will tell.”

“These talks helped both of us to understand the nature and the magnitude of the problem we’re facing," the deputy foreign minister said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Cuban ambassador's residence outside Washington.

Restoring consular services in Havana

US officials want Cuba to resume taking back flights of deported migrants, which it stopped doing at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cuban authorities, meanwhile, want to see the US follow through on its plan to restore consular services in Havana, so people can once again get visas to legally come to the United States, as well as change other policies that it believes encourage irregular migration from the island.

“They asked us to renew the flights because it was an important element of deterrence," he said.

"We said we agree that is an important element of deterrence. We explained that we needed to do in an integral manner, and they understood this.”

The talks take place against the backdrop of relations that sharply deteriorated under President Donald Trump and amid a sharp increase in the number of Cubans seeking to enter the US along the Southwest border.

US Customs and Border Protection stopped Cubans more than 79,800 times from October through March — more than double all of 2021 and five times more than all of 2020.

Overall, the Border Patrol stopped migrants of all nationalities more than 209,000 times in March, the highest monthly mark in 22 years.

SOURCE: AP