HAVANA, (Reuters) – Officials from the United States and Cuba met in Havana yesterday to discuss longstanding migration accords in the latest sign of a new collaborative spirit between the Cold War foes.
The migration talks are the highest public contact between the two governments, which do not have diplomatic relations, and recent meetings have been increasingly constructive, officials say.
The respective delegations were led by Edward Alex Lee, the U.S. acting deputy assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, and Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Cuba’s director-general of the U.S. Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The meeting took place in a respectful environment. An analysis was made of the status of compliance with the migration accords in force between both countries, including the actions taken by both parties to combat illegal migration and aliens smuggling,” Cuba said in a brief statement issued when the talks ended.
There was no immediate statement from the United States.
It was the second such meeting since July 2013. Under accords signed in 1994 and 1995, both governments pledged to promote safe, legal and orderly migration between Cuba and the United States and meet every six months to review the issue.
Over the past half century, thousands of Cubans have died trying to cross the treacherous Florida Straits to the United States on flimsy boats and homemade rafts.
The United States now accepts about 20,000 Cubans annually via legal immigration and also takes in those who manage to reach U.S. shores. But under the “wet foot, dry foot policy” it turns back Cubans picked up at sea.
U.S. immigration authorities reported 13,000 Cubans crossed the Mexican border and were accepted as residents in 2013, along with thousands more who visited the country and decided to stay.
Cuba has long been critical of the 1960s Cuban adjustment still in force, under which Cubans who reach U.S. shores are welcomed.
“The Cuban delegation insisted once again on the fact that … there could not be a legal, safe and orderly migration as long as the wet foot/dry foot policy and the Cuban Adjustment Act are not derogated, for these are the main encouragement to illegal departures and irregular arrivals of Cuban citizens in the US territory,” the Cuban statement said.
