WASHINGTON — American officials head to Havana this week with fairly modest goals of cooperation with the Cuban government, seeking an end to restrictions on the U.S. Interests Section there so that an embassy — and symbol of the two countries’ new relationship — can be established.
The migration and normalization talks between the United States and Cuba are the biggest meetings since Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced their intentions last month to re-establish diplomatic ties. Leading the U.S. delegation is Roberta Jacobson, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, the most senior American official to visit Cuba in more than three decades.
A senior administration official said the Obama administration has concrete, if limited, objectives for the discussions Wednesday through Friday. They include American diplomats being reaccredited in Cuba and facing no travel restrictions, no limits on the number of U.S. diplomats in the country, unimpeded shipments to the U.S. mission and free access for Cubans to the mission. Jacobson also will meet Cuban activists and civil society representatives.
