Thursday, February 5, 2015

US won't curtail support for activists in Cuba, top diplomat says; more Cuba talks this month

US won't curtail support for activists in Cuba, top diplomat says; more
Cuba talks this month
Associated Press Feb. 3, 2015 | 1:04 p.m. EST + More
By BRADLEY KLAPPER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States won't curtail its support for
democracy and human rights activists in Cuba as part of any agreement to
restore embassies between the two countries after a half-century
interruption, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America said Tuesday.

But Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta
Jacobson did say that more U.S.-Cuba talks on re-establishing full
diplomatic relations were planned for later this month.

Testifying at the first Senate hearing chaired by Sen. Marco Rubio, a
Cuban-American and likely presidential candidate, Jacobson faced a mix
of policy and political questions related to President Barack Obama's
decision to tighten ties with a long-time American enemy. Beyond the
packed gallery, the sizeable presence of television media from Rubio's
home state of Florida was unusual for a Senate Foreign Relations
subcommittee session.

Rubio asked Jacobson and State Department human rights chief Tom
Malinowski if they would be willing to sacrifice human rights in an
embassy agreement. He read from an interview that Josefina Vidal, Cuba's
top negotiator, gave The Associated Press after two days of historic
talks in Havana last month in which she tied the establishment of
embassies to reduced U.S. support for Cuban dissidents.

"We would not curtail the activities we're doing now," Jacobson
answered. When Rubio pressed her for a firm commitment, she said she
couldn't imagine a U.S. embassy operating in Havana under such
conditions and suggested that Vidal's comments may have been more
posturing than an actual negotiating position.

Jacobson's trip to Havana last month made her the highest-level U.S.
official to visit Cuban capital in more than three decades. The talks
encompassed the details of reconstituting embassies in each other's
capitals, managing migration flows and the much larger process of
normalizing ties between governments with unresolved issues ranging from
fugitives to financial claims.

Jacobson said she raised several barriers to the re-establishment of
diplomatic relations during her Havana discussions, including U.S.
resistance to any restrictions on American diplomats, shipments to the
U.S. Interests Section and Cuban access to that building.

Concrete progress was limited in the first round of talks, which focused
largely on setting an agenda. Jacobson said in prepared testimony
Tuesday that the two sides intend to talk again in February. Those talks
are likely to be in Washington.

Among senators, positions on Obama's sudden rapprochement with Cuba
crisscrossed party affiliation and political interest. Countering Rubio
among Republicans was Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who wants to end all
U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba. Rand Paul of Kentucky, another GOP
senator who supports the thaw, didn't show up for the hearing.

And among Democrats, California Sen. Barbara Boxer defended the Obama
administration after another Cuban-American, Sen. Bob Menendez of New
Jersey, complained that the U.S. won no concessions from President Raul
Castro's government and demanded that Cuba extradite a woman convicted
of killing a policeman from his state.

Obama and Castro vowed to improve ties after announcing in December a
spy swap and the release of Alan Gross, a U.S. aid contractor who had
been held in Cuba for five years. In the weeks that followed, Obama's
administration relaxed several restrictions on Cuba under the American
economic embargo and Castro's government released 53 political prisoners.

However, the Cuban government also tallied 140 new, short-term
detentions since December, the State Department's Malinowski said.

"The nature of the Cuban regime has not changed," Malinowski told the
senators. Still, he said he was "absolutely confident" that Cuban people
fighting for change would prevail.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: Diplomat: US won't curtail support for activists in Cuba - US
News -
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2015/02/03/us-diplomat-more-us-cuba-talks-planned-for-this-month

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