Despite the significant cooling of relations, the U.S. and Cuba held discussions about human trafficking and immigration fraud at the State Department in Washington, D.C. on December 12.[1] This was the day after they held their biannual meeting about migration.[2]
The Cuban statement about the later meeting was short. It said the two countries “reviewed the bilateral cooperation actions carried out in the period, updated on the trends of illicit trafficking of migrants and immigration fraud in the current bilateral situation and identified new actions that will favor operational cooperation in the future.” They a;so “agreed to advance in the prevention and confrontation of this scourge with the aim of continuing to reduce their negative impact on migration relations between the two countries, something that the authorities of both parties have been seeing since the adoption of the Joint Declaration of January 12, 2017.”[3]
According to Cuba,“this meeting is part of the dialogue on the application and enforcement of the law that both parties have to coordinate the confrontation of transnational scourges that affect the two countries. The meeting took place in a climate of respect and professionalism” and “both parties agreed on the usefulness of the meeting and agreed to hold the talks in the future.”
Surprisingly there has been no public notice of this meeting from the U.S. State Department or the U.S. media.
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[1] Cuba Foreign Ministry, Cuba and the USA Celebrate Meeting on the Illegal Trafficking of Migrants and Immigration Fraud (Dec. 13, 2017)
[2] U.S. and Cuba Hold Biannual Migration Talks, dwkcommentaries.com (Dec. 12, 2017).
[3] U.S.-Cuba Joint Statement (Jan. 12, 2017). This Joint Statement or Declaration was issued in the last days of the Obama Administration. See these posts to dwkcommentaries.com: U.S. Ends Special Immigration Benefit for Cubans and Meets with Cubans To Discuss Claims (Jan. 13, 2017); Additional Reactions to End of U.S. Immigration Benefits to Cubans (Jan. 14, 2017).
More Details on December 12, 2017, U.S.-Cuba Meeting
The Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) says the the proper name for the December 12 meeting is the Fourth Law Enforcement Dialogue and that the third such meeting was held on September 15 also in Washington, D.C.
The State Department release about the prior meeting says that the two countries “addressed topics of bilateral interest on national security matters, including fugitives and the return of Cuban nationals with final orders of removal” as well as “the incidents affecting diplomatic personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Havana.”
CDA, Cuba Central News Brief: 12/15/2017, http://democracyinamericas.org/cuba-central-news-brief-12-15-2017/
U.S. State Dep’t, United States and Cuba Hold Third Law Enforcement Dialogue in Washington, DC (Sept. 15, 2017), https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/09/274186.htm