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US-Cuba talks end without deal, more talks to follow

Xinhua, May 23, 2015

• The United States and Cuba concluded their two-day talks here on Friday without a deal on reopening embassies, but agreed to meet more in the coming weeks.

  Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson, the chief U.S. negotiator with Cuba, told reporters that the two countries had a "highly productive" round of talks and are now "much closer to reestablishing relations and reopening embassies."

  Josefina Vidal, director of U.S. affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said the two sides will meet more in the coming weeks on the functioning of the embassies, as they "continued to make progress" in the just-concluded fourth round of talks.

  Jacobson said, however, that there is no need for her to meet with Vidal for another round of negotiations, but the two countries will meet through their so-called "Interests Sections" based in each other's capitals.

  The latest round of talks at the State Department focused on logistical and other issues related to the embassies, in particular on freer movement of diplomats and access to the U.S. embassy by Cuban citizens.

  U.S. diplomats are not allowed to leave Cuba's capital of Havana without permission until now, while their Cuban counterparts are limited to Washington D.C. and New York.

  Cuban leader Raul Castro has voiced concerns lately about what he called "illegal things" being and to be done by American diplomats on Cuban land.

  Both Vidal and Jacobson declined to discuss details about the lingering differences between their countries.

  Since the last round of talks in mid-March, U.S. President Barack Obama had met with Raul Castro in Panama on the sidelines of a regional summit and decided to remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism, in moves seen as contributing to a growing detente in bilateral relations.

  Meanwhile, Cuba diplomats have found a U.S. bank willing to open accounts for them, removing another roadblock in reopening embassies closed since 1961.

  Havana had indicated that it would wait until May 29 before making any announcement on embassy reopening, as a 45-day U.S. congressional review period over Obama's blacklist decision expires then.

  Reopening embassies are the first major step in reestablishing full relations between Washington and Havana following a bitter rivalry that has lasted over half a century, as envisioned by Obama and Castro in December when they started the normalization process.

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