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 The two days of meetings are the first since U.S. President Barack
Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced on Dec. 17 they had
reached a historic breakthrough after 18 months of secret
negotiations.
Obama has set the U.S. on a path toward removing economic sanctions
and Washington's 53-year-old trade embargo against the
communist-ruled island, telling Congress in his annual State of the
Union address on Tuesday that "we are ending a policy that was long
past its expiration date."
Talks will focus on immigration on Wednesday and turn to restoring
diplomatic ties on Thursday.
Both sides are also expected to outline longer-term goals. While
Cuba will seek the repeal of Washington's 53-year-old economic
embargo and ask to be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors
of terrorism, the Americans will press the one-party state for
greater human rights.
 On immigration, Cuba has said it will protest U.S. laws that welcome
Cubans into the United States once they set foot on American soil,
an exceptional policy that Cuba says promotes people-trafficking and
dangerous journeys across the Florida Straits on flimsy vessels.
Obama has the executive authority to restore diplomatic ties but
needs the Republican-controlled Congress to lift the economic
embargo.
A senior Cuban foreign ministry official on Tuesday drew a
distinction between restoring diplomatic ties and the broader issue
of normalizing relations.
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"Cuba isn't normalizing relations with the United States. Cuba is
re-establishing diplomatic relations with the United States. The
normalization of relations is a much longer process and much more
complicated process," the official told reporters, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
The official said normal relations would require the United States
to lift the embargo, remove Cuba from terrorism list and stop
recruiting Cuban doctors to defect.
The U.S. delegation will be led by Roberta Jacobson, the top U.S.
diplomat for Latin America and the first U.S. assistant secretary of
state to visit Cuba in 38 years. A U.S. official of similar rank
visited Cuba 35 years ago.
The Cuban team will be led by Josefina Vidal, the foreign ministry's
chief diplomat for U.S. affairs.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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