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 The long-time adversaries are negotiating the restoration of
diplomatic relations as a first step toward reversing more than five
decades of confrontation. Officials for both governments met in
Havana in January and a second round of talks is expected to be held
in Washington this month.
But Cuba's lead negotiator said in an interview broadcast on state
television that if the United States wants free movement for its
diplomats in Cuba, it must stop using them to support the political
opposition.
"The way those (U.S.) diplomats act should change in terms of
stimulating, organizing, training, supplying and financing elements
within our country that act against the interests of ... the
government of the Cuban people," Josefina Vidal said.
"The total freedom of movement, which the U.S. side is posing, is
tied to a change in the behavior of its diplomatic mission and its
officials," said Vidal, Cuba's top official for U.S. affairs.
 Washington has long criticized the communist government for
repressing opponents of the one-party system. While public support
for dissidents is limited, they receive plenty of attention from
U.S. and Western diplomats.
The United States says it supports Cuban activists who exercise
their right to freedom of expression.
The restoration of diplomatic ties could happen before a regional
summit in Panama in April, when U.S. President Barack Obama and
Cuban President Raul Castro would meet for the first time since
shaking hands at the funeral of Nelson Mandela in December 2013.
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Obama and Castro spoke on the phone the day before their separate
but simultaneous announcements on Dec. 17 that they would attempt to
end their Cold War-era hostilities.
The warning by Vidal suggested there were obstacles to restoring
diplomatic ties, which has been seen as a relatively easy first step
before the two sides try to resolve deeper differences on matters
such as human rights and the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba.
Vidal said the conduct of Cuban diplomats in Washington was
"impeccable", while suggesting the Americans were meddling in
internal Cuban affairs.
"Matters of the internal affairs in Cuba are not negotiable," Vidal
said. "Nor are we going to negotiate matters of an internal nature
regarding Cuban sovereignty in exchange for lifting the embargo.
Beyond that, everything else is a process of negotiation."
(Editing by Paul Tait)
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