The US, in another move aimed at thawing relations with Cuba, has offered to resume migration talks with the communist-ruled nation almost six years after they were suspended.
“We intend to use the renewal of talks to reaffirm both sides' commitment to face legal and orderly migration,” a US State Department official said on Friday.
The official, who asked not to be named, said Washington hoped the talks would “improve operational relations with Cuba on migration issues.”
The US and Cuba had carried out discussions on the issue every two years until they were suspended in 2003 by former president George W. Bush.
Washington is trying to facilitate reunification of Cubans who want to leave the country with family in the US, mainly in South Florida.
Since coming to office in January, US President Barack Obama has moved to repair ties with Cuban President Raul Castro, who officially took over the reins from older brother Fidel Castro last year.
Last month Obama lifted travel and money transfer restrictions on Americans with relatives in Cuba.
The new US administration has also acknowledged that Washington's Cuba policy has been a failure, but Obama has said he would not, for now, end the 47-year-old economic embargo on Cuba, instead urging Havana to show progress on human rights.
Raul Castro, for his part, said last month that Cuba will not make symbolic “gestures” to please the US, putting the onus of improving bilateral relations squarely on Washington.
A clutch of Cuban-American lawmakers from both parties immediately criticized the latest US expression of readiness to resume migration talks.
“This constitutes another unilateral concession by the Obama administration to the dictatorship,” Florida lawmakers Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart said in a statement.
Republican Senator Mel Martinez, also of Florida, was critical as well: “The US suspended talks due to the Castro regime's refusal to comply with critical elements of the Migration Accords.”
“The administration should insist on the regime's full compliance with the Migration Accords before re-opening formal talks,” Martinez said.
The 1995 Cuba-US Migration Accord between Havana and Washington says Cuban migrants to the US who are intercepted at sea should be sent back to Cuba or to a third country, while those who make it to US soil should be allowed to stay in the US.
The Florida lawmakers said Havana continues to violate the accord by “denying hundreds of exit permits” each year to Cuban nationals who have received visas to enter the US.
Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, said the Obama administration “gesture will probably be well-received by the Castro brothers since it provides them with a perception of legitimacy and gives them the attention they seek.”
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from