Talks aimed at resuming direct postal service between the US and Cuba, which has been suspended for decades, are set to be held in the middle of the month in another sign of thawing US-Cuba relations, Western diplomats said.
Officials from the US State Department and US Postal Service were expected to attend the discussions in Havana, said the diplomats, who asked not to be named.
No further details were immediately available and there was no immediate confirmation from the Cuban government.
The talks are part of US President Barack Obama’s declared intention to “recast” relations with Communist-ruled Cuba, which for 47 years has been the target of a US trade embargo.
In April, Obama lifted restrictions on travel and remittances sent to Cuba by Cuban Americans with relatives on the island and he has restarted talks on immigration that were suspended by the administration of former US president George W. Bush in 2004.
Cuba agreed in late May to resume the immigration discussions and also to a US request for talks on the postal service.
At present, mail between the two countries must go through a third country.
Direct postal service was suspended as a result of the animosity between the US and Cuba that began soon after the Cuban revolution toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.
Diplomatic relations were broken off in 1961 and a year later the US launched a trade embargo that is still in place.
The US has approached Cuba before about resuming direct postal services but Cuba has insisted in the past that, among other things, this must be accompanied by a resumption of regular scheduled commercial flights between the two nations just 145 km apart. Currently, only charter flights are permitted under US regulations.
Cuba is also said to be concerned about the possible delivery by post of items it views as potentially harmful, including chemicals, firearms, ammunition and technology such as satellite phones.
US express mail service companies such as UPS and FedEx cannot operate in Cuba but German-owned carrier DHL can.
According to John Kavulich, senior policy advisor at the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council in New York, resumption of direct mail would likely draw interest from UPS and FedEx.
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