This week in Havana the United States and Cuba held additional meetings regarding (a) trade and economic regulations and (b) migration, apparently without any conclusions.
Regulations Meeting[1]
On July 12 and 13, the countries held the meeting regarding trade and economic regulations. The discussions apparently centered on recent modifications to the U.S. economic embargo as well as Cuban regulations governing commercial and financial relations. No new agreements were announced.
The subsequent U.S. press release stated, “U.S. officials described regulatory changes that were announced on March 16 related to Cuba-related travel, commerce, and financial transactions. The delegations addressed ways the two nations can work together within existing U.S. laws and regulations.” The post-meeting Cuban press release merely identified the people who attended the meeting.
Migration Meeting[2]
The migration meeting was held on July 14 with the next such session scheduled for Washington, D.C. later this year.
Afterwards the Cuban delegation issued a press release reiterating Cuba’s “high concern over the persistence of the [U.S.] “wet foot /dry foot” policy and the Cuban Adjustment Act, whereby Cuban citizens are granted a preferential migration treatment . . . in violation of the letter and spirit of the Migration Accords in force, which commit both governments to ensure a legal, safe and orderly migration.”
According to Cuba, “these political and legal provisions encourage irregular migration to the [U.S.] directly from Cuba and also from third countries, even by Cuban citizens who travel abroad legally. . . . The implementation of said provisions have led to the loss of human lives and favored the commission of crimes such as alien smuggling, traffic in persons, migration fraud and the use of violence, whose extraterritorial impact have led to destabilization situations in other countries in the region.”
The Cuban delegation also reiterated its rejection of the [U.S.] “Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program” encouraging the Cuban medical staff working in third countries to abandon their missions and migrate to the United States, which is a reprehensible practice that affects the health programs of those countries and is out of keeping with the present bilateral context.”
“The Cuban delegation [stressed] that there could be no normal migration relations between both countries as long as the “wet foot/dry foot” policy, the Cuban Adjustment Act, and the “Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program” continue to exist.”[3]
Other issues, said Cuba, “were considered, including the current status of the accords in force, the implementation of the Cuban migration policy, the granting of immigrant and temporary visas to travel to the US as well as the actions taken by both countries against irregular migration, alien smuggling and document fraud. Both delegations [also] acknowledged the positive results of the technical meeting on prevention of migration fraud and traffic in persons and of the technical meeting between Cuba’s Border Guard and the US Coast Guard held in February and June of 2016.”
The post-meeting statement by the U.S. State Department was shorter and less revelatory. It said the “delegations reiterated the importance of the U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords, which provide for the safe, orderly, and legal migration of Cubans to the United States. The discussions included maritime and overland migration trends, cooperation between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Cuban physicians as well as cooperation between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Cuban Border Guard. The U.S. delegation restated its position that the Government of Cuba should accept the return of Cuban nationals who have been removed from the United States.”
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[1] Assoc. Press, Cuba, US Hold 3rd Round of Regulatory Talks Amid Thaw (July 13, 2016); State Dep’t, United States and Cuba Held Third Regulatory Dialogue (July 13, 2016); Cuba Foreign Ministry, Cuba and the United States Held Third Dialogue on Regulatory Issues (July 13, 2016).
[2] Assoc. Press, US, Cuba Hold Migration Talks in Havana; No New Agreements, N.Y. Times (July 14, 2016); Cuba Foreign Ministry, Press Release Issued by the Cuban Delegation to the Migration Talks Between Cuba and the United States, Havana, July 14, 2016; State Dep’t, United States and Cuba Continue Migration Talks (July 14, 2016).
[3] This blog repeatedly has expressed its opposition to these U.S. immigration policies.
