The US on Sunday welcomed Cuba’s decision to hold talks on migration and direct mail service, but said it must still improve human rights before its isolation can be fully ended.
“We’re very pleased that the Cuban government has agreed to talks on migration and direct mail links,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters during a visit to El Salvador for yesterday’s inauguration of Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes.
The move to resume talks on migration and hold talks on direct mail service are in the interests of both countries, she said.
“At the same time we will continue to press the Cuban government to protect basic rights, release political prisoners and move toward democratic reform,” she said.
Clinton said she was taking her message on the need for Cuba to embrace democracy to Honduras, where she will attend the 35-member Organization of American States (OAS) general assembly today. The OAS is beset by a row over the pace of normalization with Cuba.
US President Barack Obama’s administration insists Cuba release political prisoners and improve political freedoms before it is readmitted. Some OAS states want Cuba readmitted right away, but Clinton on Sunday reiterated that the US would stand firm.
“We believe that membership in the OAS comes with responsibilities and that we must all hold each other accountable,” she said. “These responsibilities include abiding by the principles of democracy and human rights enshrined in the OAS charter and in the Inter-American democratic charter.”
It was Washington that proposed recently to resume direct mail service, the official said, adding mail has for years, if not decades, been sent between the US and Cuba through a third country. US officials said on May 23 that the Obama administration also had proposed to resume the discussions on migration issues, which had been conducted every two years until they were suspended in 2003 by former US president George W. Bush.
A senior US official, who is traveling with Clinton, told reporters that Havana informed Washington on Saturday that it would take up the US offer to resume long-stalled talks on migration issues and on direct mail service.
“We and the Cubans have to determine a mutually convenient place and time,” he said on the condition of anonymity.
The official said the Cubans “also indicated they would like to explore areas of additional dialogue,” such as in counter-narcotics, counterterrorism, hurricane and disaster preparedness response.
And when asked if the new steps to engage Cuba would affect the OAS meeting in San Pedro Sula, the senior official said “it is hoped ... that the region will recognize that anything done within the ambit of the OAS ... should support and foster this development, as opposed to hinder it.”
US officials earlier declined to even rule out the possibility of Clinton’s skipping the OAS meeting altogether if negotiators fail to agree on terms for bringing Cuba back within the OAS.
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