Tag: U.S. Embassy (Cuba)

Latest U.S.-Cuba Bilateral Migration Dialogue 

On December 4, the U.S. and Cuba held its latest bilateral dialogue about migration, this time in Havana.

The short statement about this meeting from the U.S. Embassy in Havana said the following:[1]

  • The meeting was to “review implementation of the U.S.-Cuba Migration Agreements, a series of bilateral agreements dating back to 1984. This was the second of two scheduled bilateral meetings on migration in 2024, reflecting the United States’ commitment to safe, legal, and orderly migration. The U.S. delegation was led by Eric Jacobstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, while the Cuban delegation was led by Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío.”
  • “The U.S. delegation addressed key issues related to collaboration on migration procedures and highlighted the challenges to achieving the goals of the Agreements. During the talks, the United States raised issues of interest to the Cuban government, including facilitating family reunification, discouraging irregular migration, and improving respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba.”

A more fulsome account appeared in Diario de Cuba that focused on comments by Fernandez de Cossio, the Cuban official at the meeting. He said that Cuba “expressed its willingness to consolidate and expand bilateral cooperation on migration issues with the United States” and that this meeting “responds to the mutual commitment to try to guarantee that migration between Cuba and the United States is safe, orderly and regular.” [2]

Cossio also made the following comments:

  • “Cuba reiterated its willingness to comply with the commitments it has assumed and is demanding a similar commitment from the United States to comply with the agreements” and that the agreements were “comprehensive” and fulfilled on the basis of reciprocity.”
  • [E]migrants from the island who go to the US “do so motivated by two fundamental causes: the privileged treatment that the US has always granted to any Cuban who tries to enter that country by any means, whether regular or irregular, which is called a pull factor; but there is also a push factor, which is a policy of economic blockade aimed at depressing the living standards of Cubans living in Cuba.”
  • “This combination of factors poses a fundamental contradiction to the purposes of these agreements and to the mutual commitment to ensure that migration is regular, orderly and safe.”
  • The “Cuban government insisted on the need to fully resume the provision of consular services at the U.S. Embassy in Havana for those applying for nonimmigrant visas, which, although partially resumed in August for certain categories, has not yet recovered to the level it had before. We have argued that this is a fact or that encourages many people to want to emigrate to obtain residency and be able to travel between the two countries, something that would not be necessary if multiple visas existed and if citizens who visit were processed from Havana.”
  • “Also, those who have been admitted to the United States but have not been granted a specific legal status. For us, that is an important issue.”
  • “We point out the aggressive treatment that has been taking place for several months in US airports against Cubans residing in Cuba, Cubans residing in the US or in third countries when they travel to the US,”
  • “We believe that for two countries like Cuba and the United States, with geographical proximity and a considerable flow of travelers, plus a large presence of Cubans in North American territory, it is important that both governments maintain cooperation on migration issues,”

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[1]  US Embassy Havana, Bi-Annual Dialogue on Migration between the United States and Cuba in Havana, Cuba (Dec. 4, 2024).

[2] US calls on Havana to ‘improve respect for human rights’ in new bilateral migration dialogue,, Diario de Cuba (Dec.5, 2024).

Change of charge d’affaires of U.S. Embassy in Cuba 

On August 1, there was a change of the charge d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Leaving that position was Mara Tekach,  a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. Her successor is Timothy Zuñiga-Brown, another career foreign service officer, who will have to deal with a reduced embassy staff and unsolved issues, such as the suspension of visa processing and the family reunification program. [1]

Here is an account of some of Tekach’s recent comments.[2]

On her last day in this position, she delivered to the Cuban government a diplomatic note complaining about the state of human rights on the island. She said Cuba did not deserve a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland; instead it deserved censuring by that body. (On August 5, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo made the same plea, saying, “It’s outrageous that the Human Rights Council would offer to seat Cuba, a brutal dictatorship that traffic its own doctors under the guise of humanitarian missions. No country should vote Cuba onto the Council.”[3])

“While its leaders enjoy expensive yachts and watches, the Cuban people queue for hours to try to get food and medicine. Any country in the world can send supplies to the island, but they never reach the people,”

“The regime needs to democratize,” Tekach said. It is “fomenting destabilization abroad” and has established a “parasitic relationship built around all kinds of nefarious arrangements” with the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela. “These things have to end.”

During her time in Havana, she was a vocal critic of the Cuban government. She visited political prisoners and dissidents and met with activists around the island. Tekach said “it was important to raise awareness on the island of the repression. And I was very focused on bringing this to the attention of the international community.” I was convinced “that the regime would not tolerate a single free thought among its people.”

Under her leadership, the embassy’s social media accounts engaged in campaigns to criticize the Cuban government’s medical missions and the country’s human-rights record. The government responded by showing on television images of her meeting with dissidents and accusing her of “recruiting mercenaries.”

For example, on July 4, 2020, she gave a speech at the Embassy dedicated to “all of the independent voices of Cuba – past and present. . . . May they never be silenced. May they continue to be heard. . . . Cuba’s countless independent voices dream and strive for a better future. You shall not be forgotten.  We will continue to amplify your voices.”

And on July 21, 2020, she issued a statement on the Embassy’s website about Cuban medical missions that focused on the claims that the Cuban medical personnel are not paid fair compensation for their services on these missions. [2]

Tekach said the disagreements never stopped her from communicating with Cuban officials and working on issues like the repatriation flights organized after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted travel. But she noted that “it was not a friendly relationship.”

Tekach will remain influential in Cuban policy as the new coordinator of the State Department’s Office of Cuban Affairs.

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[1] Torres, ‘It wasn’t a friendly relationship.’ Former top diplomat in Havana talks about U.S.-Cuba relations, Miami Herald (Aug. 5, 2020); ‘Do not be fooled by the Cuban regime,’ asks Mara Tekach when leaving office, Diario de Cuba (Aug. 7, 2020).

[2] U.S. Embassy (Cuba), Remarks by U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Mara Tekach (July 4, 2020); U.S. Embassy (Cuba), Statement from Chargé d’Affaires Mara Tekach The Truth about Cuban Medical Missions (July 21, 2020).

[3] State Dep’t, Secretary Michael R. Pompeo At a Press Availability (Aug. 5, 2020); Washington urges UN countries to deny Havana a seat on the Human rights Council, Diario de Cuba (Aug. 6, 2020).