U.S. pressing Cuba to restore diplomatic ties before April - officials

Exclusive: U.S. pressing Cuba to restore diplomatic ties before April -
officials
BY LESLEY WROUGHTON AND MARK HOSENBALL
WASHINGTON Thu Feb 5, 2015 6:15pm EST

(Reuters) - The United States is pressing Cuba to allow the opening of
its embassy in Havana by April, U.S. officials told Reuters, despite the
Communist island's demand that it first be removed from the U.S. list of
state sponsors of terrorism.

A refusal by Cuba to allow the United States to quickly establish an
official embassy for the first time in half a century could complicate
talks between the Cold War foes, reflecting enduring mistrust as they
move to end decades of confrontation.

Striking Cuba from the terrorism list could take until June or longer,
although the White House is pushing officials to move quickly, said two
U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the State Department's review to
take Cuba off the list.

Washington is eager to re-establish diplomatic ties before a regional
summit in Panama in April, when President Barack Obama will meet Cuban
leader Raul Castro for the first time since 2013, the officials said.

The two leaders announced a historic deal on Dec. 17 to restore
relations. U.S. and Cuban diplomats will meet this month or in early
March in Washington for a second round of talks.

While renewing diplomatic relations could happen quickly, the process to
normalize, including removing the U.S. trade embargo, will take far longer.

Cuba has not made removal from the list a condition for restoring ties,
U.S. officials said. But Havana made clear during the first round of
talks last month that it first wants to be removed from the terrorism list.

GETTING OFF THE LIST

For Cuba, which considers its designation an injustice, getting removed
from the list would be a long-coveted propaganda victory at home and abroad.

Washington placed Cuba on the list in 1982, citing then President Fidel
Castro's training and arming of Communist rebels in Africa and Latin
America. The list is short: just Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba.

But Cuba's presence on the list has been questioned in recent years. The
State Department's latest annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" says
Cuba has long provided a safe haven for members of the Basque separatist
group ETA and Colombia's left-wing FARC guerrillas.

But ETA, severely weakened by Spanish and French police, called a
ceasefire in 2011 and has pledged to disarm. And the FARC has been in
peace talks with the Colombian government for the past two years, with
Cuba as host.

Even the State Department acknowledged in its report that Cuba has made
progress. "There was no indication that the Cuban government provided
weapons or paramilitary training to terrorist groups," it said.

Cuba raised this issue before January's talks in Havana. A senior
official from Cuba's foreign ministry told reporters on Jan. 20 that it
was "unfair" to keep Cuba on the State Department's list.

"We cannot conceive of re-establishing diplomatic relations while Cuba
continues to be included on the list," the official told reporters,
speaking on condition of anonymity. "It doesn't make any sense that we
re-establish diplomatic relations and Cuba continues (on the list)."

It is rare, though not unheard of, for the United States to remove
entities or countries from its list of terrorist supporters. One entity
which was removed following a lengthy and intense lobbying campaign was
the Mujahiddin e Khalq, a controversial and cult-like Iranian group.

The designation also comes with economic sanctions, and can result in
fines for companies that do business with countries on the list, such as
a record $8.9 billion penalty that French bank BNP Paribas paid last
year for doing business with Sudan, Iran and Cuba.

As part of the U.S. shift in policy toward Cuba, the White House ordered
a State Department review of Cuba's listing as a state sponsor of
terrorism, the U.S. officials said.

A U.S. national security official said intelligence agencies were under
pressure from senior Obama administration officials to complete their
role in the removal process by March.

"The process is under way," said the official.

To finalize Cuba's removal, Obama would need to submit to Congress a
report stating Havana had not supported terrorism-related activities for
six months, and that Cuba has provided assurances that it will not
support terrorism in the future. Cuba would be automatically dropped
from the list 45 days later.

Getting the embassy open is also tricky.

Converting the six-story U.S. interests sections in Havana into a
full-fledged embassy after 53 years would require ending restrictions on
the number of U.S. personnel in Havana, limits on diplomats' movements
and appointing an ambassador. It would allow the U.S. to renovate the
building and have U.S. security posted around the building, replacing
Cuban police.

Cuba also wants the United States to scale back its support for Cuban
dissidents when the sides meet again. U.S. administration officials have
stood firm both publicly and privately that they intend to keep
supporting the dissidents.

"I can't imagine that we would go to the next stage of our diplomatic
relationship with an agreement not to see democracy activists," U.S.
negotiator Roberta Jacobson told a hearing chaired by Sen. Marco Rubio,
a vocal Republican opponent of Obama's new Cuba policy.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball. Editing by Jason Szep and
Stuart Grudgings)

Source: Exclusive: U.S. pressing Cuba to restore diplomatic ties before
April - officials | Reuters -
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/05/us-usa-cuba-idUSKBN0L92Z520150205