Cuba demands US to remove island from 'terrorism list' on eve of talks

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
16 Apr 2024 10:19

A new round of talks between Cuba and the United States on migration is set to kick off on Tuesday.

A Cuban flag is seen next to an American flag outside the US embassy in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, May 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)

The Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio Dominguez, will head the country's delegation to Washington for a new round of talks between Cuba and the United States on migration issues, the deputy director for US affairs in Cuba's Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

The semiannual meetings, which resumed in 2022 after a hiatus during Donald Trump's US presidency, coincided with a significant increase of approximately half a million Cubans entering the United States starting in 2021, according to US officials.

The discussions aim to facilitate safe, legal, and orderly migration between the two nations. Johana Tablada de la Torre voiced frustration over the failure to achieve these objectives, emphasizing the significance of the talks as one of the few channels of communication during President Joe Biden's administration.

Cuba's government has long cited US sanctions as the reason for the island's economic crisis and the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act economic crisis, which offers special entry privileges and support to Cubans upon arrival, as a factor encouraging its youth to emigrate.

Tablada emphasized that the continued blockade and pressure policies pursued by the Biden administration, and previously by the Trump administration, will top the agenda to be discussed by the Cuban delegation, as they "constitute the most important issue" in the migration file.

The Cuban delegation will also urge the US government to resume issuing non-immigrant visas in Havana, as there is no justification for forcing people, including the elderly, to travel to a third country to apply for this type of visa when there is a US consulate open in Havana, Tablada indicated.

The diplomat added that her country's delegation will call on Washington to suspend the use of federal funds to finance major media outlets and digital platforms that encourage illegal migration.

While Tablada pointed out that all migration policies implemented by the US in 2023 failed to alleviate the root causes of Cuban migration, she blamed the US administration for illegal migration from Cuba to the United States due to its hostile measures and policies toward the Caribbean nation, through imposing an unjust blockade and placing Cuba on the US list of "state sponsors of terrorism."

She argued that if the US seriously aims to reduce illegal migration, it should remove Cuba from the aforementioned list.

"The blockade (sanctions) ... is what most weighs in on the bilateral migration situation," she told a press conference in Havana.

Tablada affirmed that her country would insist Washington ease sanctions and end special treatment of Cubans illegally entering its territory during the talks.