U.S.-Cuba sign torrent of agreements under the inauguration wire

U.S.-Cuba sign torrent of agreements under the inauguration wire
By Karen DeYoung January 18 at 6:58 PM

The United States and Cuba on Wednesday signed a treaty delineating
their maritime boundary in the eastern Gulf of Mexico amid a torrent of
last-minute negotiations between the two governments in the outgoing
days of the Obama administration.

In the past two weeks, Washington and Havana also inked agreements on
joint responses to potential oil spills and other pollution in the gulf
and the Florida Straits; cooperation on law enforcement and information
sharing; and maritime and aeronautical search and rescue.

Teams from the two governments also held their third meeting on
outstanding monetary and property claims and held discussions about
cooperation on human trafficking.

Last week, Obama unilaterally eliminated special preferences for Cubans
seeking admission to the United States, including the 20-year-old
"wet-foot, dry-foot" policy that automatically allowed any Cuban
reaching U.S. soil to stay and be given near-automatic approval for
permanent residence.

Since Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced in December 2014
that they would normalize relations, the two governments have
established a number of task forces to resolve outstanding issues
between them.

That process sped up considerably this month as President-elect Donald
Trump's inauguration approached. Trump has said that Obama got a "bad
deal" from Cuba and that Castro should have made more concessions toward
civic and political freedoms on the island. Obama has repeatedly argued
that more U.S.-Cuba contact will force the government's hand.

While Trump has not said he will seek to re-sever diplomatic relations,
reestablished with the opening of embassies in Washington and Havana in
July 2015, he has indicated he will review regulatory changes under
which Obama eased long-standing trade and travel restrictions.

The new maritime treaty, which must be ratified by the Senate before
taking effect, delineates the part of the U.S.-Cuba maritime boundary
that had not been previously agreed upon. According to the State
Department, it "covers an area of the continental shelf in the eastern
Gulf of Mexico that is more than 200 nautical miles from any country's
shore."

Source: U.S.-Cuba sign torrent of agreements under the inauguration wire
- The Washington Post -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-cuba-sign-torrent-of-agreements-under-the-inauguration-wire/2017/01/18/5ba1558c-ddce-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861_story.html?utm_term=.9c23ee8ecdf9