News / Foreign Policy

US, Cuba fail to set date to reopen embassies

Thursday, 22 January 2015 11:11 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 22 January 2015 11:53 PM ]

Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson (R) leaves the US Interests Section in Havana, Cuba.

The United States and Cuba failed to set a date to reopen their embassies during the second session of historic talks between their officials on Thursday.

However, the Washington and Havana agreed to have another meeting on the issue in the future, the officials said.

"I can't tell you exactly when (reopening embassies) will happen," Roberta Jacobson, the US assistant secretary of state, told reporters on Thursday.

"Those issues that are part of the full range of normalization are complex and they reflect profound differences between our two countries and will continue to be discussed," Jacobson noted.

Meanwhile, her Cuban counterpart Josefina Vidal said more talks would be held "in the future."

Vidal cited the fact that her country is still on a list of state sponsors of terrorism as a difficulty in reopening the embassies.

In addition, she said the US embargo blocks her country’s consulate from accessing banking services.

Also, while Jacobson said she brought up human rights concerns during the Thursday’s meeting, Vidal denied it saying "this issue was not discussed during the talks.”

Officials from the two countries began two days of talks behind closed doors on Wednesday, which primarily focused on restoration of their diplomatic ties.

Although both sides say the talks have been fruitful, they could not agree upon immigration policy either during Wednesday's session.

The US says it would continue granting safe heaven to Cubans while Havana accuses Washington of encouraging Cuban doctors to defect, calling it a "reprehensible brain drain practice."

Last month, President Barack Obama announced that Washington will start talks with Cuba to normalize diplomatic relations, marking the most significant shift in the American foreign policy towards the communist country in over 50 years.

On December 17, Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro announced they had reached an agreement to normalize ties after 18 months of secret negotiations.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Obama said, “In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you're doing doesn't work for fifty years, it's time to try something new.”

AT/AT

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