|
 The chief U.S. negotiator said the two sides may not need another
formal round of talks to reach agreement, indicating major
differences had been resolved.
If the former Cold War rivals ultimately reach a deal to end more
than half a century of estrangement, it would fulfill a pledge they
made five months ago when U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban
President Raul Castro announced detente.
The so-called interests sections in Washington and Havana could be
upgraded to embassies, and ambassadors could be named in place of
the current chiefs of mission. Washington severed diplomatic
relations with Cuba in 1961, soon after Cuba's revolution that
steered the island into alliance with the Soviet Union and decades
of hostility with its northern neighbor.
"We have made significant progress in the last five months and are
much closer to reestablishing relations and reopening embassies,"
Roberta Jacobson, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western
Hemisphere affairs, told reporters after two days of talks at the
State Department.
 Since Obama and Castro's landmark announcement in December, the two
sides have met twice in Havana and twice in Washington, and the two
presidents have also met for talks during a regional summit in
Panama in April.
The chief Cuban negotiator, Josefina Vidal, also reported progress
had been made.
Neither side gave details publicly although Vidal, the director of
U.S. affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said they had discussed
"aspects related to the functioning of embassies and the behavior of
diplomats," a reference to two areas of difference.
Cuba, wary of outside efforts to change its one-party Communist
system, has objected to U.S. training courses in journalism and
information technology given at the U.S. interests section in
Havana, saying they violate the Vienna Convention ban on diplomats
interfering in the internal affairs of a host nation.
[to top of second column] |
Cuba, which tightly controls its media and blocks websites run by
independent journalists, views the courses as subversive.
The Americans want freedom of movement for their diplomats, who are
banned from traveling outside Havana without permission.
One important Cuban demand was to be removed from the U.S. list of
state sponsors of terrorism, a designation that imposed sanctions on
some companies doing business with Cuba.
Obama announced on April 14 he would take Cuba off the list, subject
to a congressional notification period that ends on May 29.
That has allowed Cuba to once again find a bank to handle its
accounts in the United States. Cuba reached a deal with Stonegate
Bank of Florida.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by David
Storey and Frances Kerry)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
