The U.S. and Cuba will hold the second round of negotiations to restore diplomatic ties on February 27 in Washington D.C., State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki announced on Tuesday.
The initial round of talks occurred in Havana on January 21-22, with Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson leading the U.S. delegation, and Josefina Vidal, General Director for the U.S. within the Cuban Foreign Ministry heading the Cuban envoy. The U.S. has called for Cuba to lift travel restrictions for U.S. diplomatic staff, and has indicated that it will not remove Cuba’s name from its list of state sponsored terrorists until the U.S. embassy is allowed to reopen. Cuba has countered that its name must be removed from the list before it allows the U.S. embassy to reopen. It has also insisted that the U.S. halt its support for Cuban political dissidents, and that the U.S. trade embargo to be lifted.
Since the December 17th announcement that the two countries would aim to normalize relations, the Obama administration has taken steps toward easing travel and trade restrictions against Cuba, including a decision by the State Department last Friday to allow imports of privately produced products from Cuban entrepreneurs. However, it will take an act of legislation from Congress to fully lift the trade embargo.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers introduced a bill on February 12th that would end the trade embargo. Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar, the lead sponsor of the bill, completed a 4-day visit to Cuba yesterday with two other Democratic Senators, Claire McCaskill and Mark Warner. The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Senators Jeff Flake and Mike Enzi, as well as Democrats Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin and Debbie Stabenow.
