U.S., Cuba close to resuming migration talks
The State Department said it is looking to confirm dates for biannual
talks with Havana.
By LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is working with Havana to
finalize dates to resume long-suspended discussions between the two
countries, as Cuban officials signal their interest in expanding the
talks beyond migration.
A State Department spokesman said Thursday that the agency is looking to
confirm dates for the talks, which had been held twice a year until they
were suspended in 2004 by the Bush administration.
U.S. officials last month delivered a diplomatic note to the Cuban
Interests Section in Washington, D.C., asking to resume the biannual
migration talks in a bid to 'reaffirm both sides' commitment to safe,
legal and orderly migration.''
Critics of renewing the talks until Cuba has shown some democratic
change pointed to the recent arrest of a former State Department
employee and his wife on spy charges, suggesting that the talks be
postponed until Congress has considered the breach of security posed by
the two accused spies.
''I'm surprised State is still pushing for a hasty reinstatement of the
talks,'' Florida Sen. Mel Martinez said. ``There are legitimate concerns
about the extent of the recent espionage uncovered by the FBI. What's
the rush to conduct talks with the Cuban regime when we still don't have
a full damage assessment of the regime's covert efforts?''
Some Cuba observers had suggested a U.S. Supreme Court decision this
week to not take up an appeal in a case involving five convicted Cuban
spies could also slow progress.
But in Havana, the head of Cuba's parliament said the Supreme Court's
decision won't jeopardize negotiations with Washington, even though the
Cuban government considers the denied appeal ``a great insult.''
Ricardo Alarcón told The Associated Press in an interview late Wednesday
night that no date has been set for immigration talks with the United
States, but he said Raúl Castro's government hopes to expand the agenda
to include environmental issues and efforts against terrorism, drug
smuggling and natural disasters.
Yet Alarcón also called the United States ''an ignorant lion,''
criticizing the Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal by the
so-called ''Cuban Five,'' convicted of being unregistered foreign agents
by a Miami court in 2001. Their lawyers claim that anti-Castro sentiment
kept them from receiving a fair trial in South Florida.
Cuban officials say the men were heroes trying to avert terrorist
attacks on the island, and have held massive rallies for their freedom,
plastering their faces on billboards and commissioning songs, poems and
paintings in their honor. Alarcón said the government will continue
campaigning on their behalf, but suggested that their legal status won't
impede U.S.-Cuban talks, the AP reported.
''We share the sentiments of many who feel insulted by that decision,
but I don't see why one necessarily has to affect the other,'' Alarcón said.
The five were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life.
Three were also found guilty of conspiracy to obtain military secrets
from the U.S. Southern Command.
A three-judge federal appeals court panel reversed their convictions in
2005, but the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reinstated
them, ordering new sentences for two of the men in coming months.
Alarcón said the men's freedom will be ''at the top'' of any list of
priorities in talks with U.S. leaders, adding that President Barack
Obama ''has a moral obligation'' to pardon the five if he really wants
improved relations with Cuba and Latin America.
Still, he acknowledged that Obama has a clear desire for improved
U.S.-Cuban ties, and noted that ''there is an obvious change in
language'' in Washington, even if some people are ``working to try and
sabotage that.''
Cuba's parliament meets just two weekends a year, when its members do
little more than unanimously back measures proposed by Castro's
government. Alarcón is one of the island's most-public faces. He lived
in the United States for years as Cuba's ambassador to the United
Nations, and answered questions in the Wednesday interview partly in
English.
Alarcón suggested that the June 4 arrest of two new accused Cuban spies,
retired State Department official Walter Kendall Myers and his wife, was
intended to undermine improved relations between the neighboring nations.
''The administration makes traveling to Cuba easier for Cuban Americans
and Congress is discussing the elimination of travel restrictions for
everyone, and suddenly this strange case pops up,'' he said, calling it
something ``out of a police novel.''
The pair are not believed to have been paid, but rather to have been
ideological supporters of the communist-run island.
''Cuba does not buy spies,'' he said. ``They don't do it for money.''
U.S., Cuba close to resuming migration talks - Nation - MiamiHerald.com
(19 June 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/1104267.html
No comments:
Post a Comment