Still No Embassies for the U.S. and Cuba
Issues remain after a fourth round of talks reestablishing diplomatic ties.
By Teresa Welsh
US News.com
May 22, 2015

Five months after the U.S. and Cuba announced they are normalizing relations, the two countries have yet to come to a consensus on opening embassies in each other's capitals.

The U.S. on Thursday and Friday hosted the Cuban delegation in Washington for the fourth round of talks between the countries in a process to normalize relations, but no major announcements came out of the visit. The delegations held a press conference following the talks but had little information to announce.

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuba's President Raul Castro during a meeting on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas at the ATLAPA Convention center on April 11, 2015, in Panama City.

Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs Roberta Jacobson called the talks "highly productive," but she and Cuban delegation head Josefina Vidal offered no information about what topics were holding up the establishment of embassies. Jacobson did say progress had been made this week, and it was possible negotiators wouldn't need another formal round of talks but instead could work out the remaining issues using the existing diplomatic missions in Washington and Havana.

"It isn't a lack of measureable progress. Each time we have met we have made progress. We made progress this time," Jacobson said. "The truth is that in the end it inevitably comes to some tough issues before you get agreement. But we made great progress and I remain optimistic that we will conclude, but we still have a few things that need to be ironed out and we're going to do that."

Jacobson added, "This has not been an easy task given our complicated history."

The U.S. has signaled it is ready to move forward in upgrading the current interests sections to embassies, a move it hoped to accomplish before last month's Summit of the Americas. A senior State Department official acknowledged earlier this week that the U.S. had been ready to schedule the next round of talks right after President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro met at the summit in Panama in April, but the Cubans "weren't necessarily as quick to be prepared as we were."

After announcing the policy change in December, Obama and Castro had a face-to-face meeting in Panama at the summit, the first between leaders of the countries in over 50 years. The week after their meeting, the U.S. announced it would remove Cuba from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Cuba had stipulated that removal from the list was a requirement for the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Vidal Friday acknowledged the fact that the U.S. had taken this step, calling it a "just decision." She also noted that Cuba now has a bank willing to handle its financial needs in the U.S., which had been an impediment for the Cubans in moving relations forward.

Following the administration's announcement of the removal, Congress had 45 days to object. That time period expires May 29, after which Cuba will officially be taken off the list.

The U.S. is also looking for assurances from the Cubans that American diplomats will be able to travel freely about the island, rather than being confined to the embassy in Havana. They also want the Cubans to agree to allow shipments for the embassy to arrive at the island without interference and for people to be able to visit the building without being bothered by police guards.

In this March 19, 2015, file photo, a woman jogs on the Malecon as the Thomson Dream cruise ship arrives in Havana bay. The Obama administration has approved on Tuesday, May 5, 2015, the first ferry service in decades between the United States and Cuba, potentially opening a new path for the hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars in consumer goods that travel between Florida and Havana each year.

Jacobson said the delegations are using the Vienna Convention to guide how embassies will function. She said American embassies around the world operate within different "ranges," insinuating that diplomats don't enjoy the same freedoms in all countries in the world but that doesn't stop missions from operating.

"We expect that in Cuba our embassies will operate within that range," Jacobson said.

The U.S. must notify Congress it will be changing the status of its diplomatic mission to Cuba from an interests section to an embassy a minimum of 15 days beforehand. The senior state department official said that notification could come even before the two countries have agreed on a concrete date on which to open embassies to ensure the notification requirement is fulfilled before the upgraded facility would be operational. Although the administration is required to notify Congress of the change, lawmakers cannot do anything to stop the administration from establishing an embassy in Cuba.

But Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a Cuban-American who opposes the opening with Havana, said Wednesday after a Senate hearing on the policy that it was going to be "very difficult" for an ambassador appointed by Obama to receive confirmation from the Senate.

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